Antibiotic resistance in Campylobacter jejuni and coli genes among poultry and humans

Abstract

The Campylobacter bacteria, as identified by epidemiologists and public health officials, is the culprit of various gastrointestinal infections resulting from consuming raw poultry and meat. In most cases, Campylobacter is self-limiting after 3-5 days, but severe cases require antibiotic treatment. However, two species of this bacteria’s, C. jejuni and C. coli,isolates of clinical and animal origin showed high anti-microbial resistance to various drugs. In this study, genomes of 109 isolates of AMR Campylobacter from a source in Bangladesh were sequenced to determine which drugs the bacteria are most resistant to. Chicken, pigeon, and human stool samples were tested for multiresistance, in addition to singular AMR genes. Antibiotics tested included macrolides, aminoglycosides, quinolones, beta-lactams, tetracyclines, streptothricin, and arsenic. For singular drugs, both C. jejuni and C. coli were most resistant to quinolones, with 94% of C. jejuni samples and 100% of C. coli samples demonstrating resistance to this specific antibiotic. Both species were least resistant to aminoglycosides and streptothricin, with none of the C. coli samples, and a singular C. jejuni sample indicating resistance. When measuring multiresistance, 92% of C. jejuni samples were multiresistant to a total of 12 antibiotic combinations and 100% of C. coli samples were multiresistant to a total of 8 antibiotic combinations. 11 out of the 12 C. jejuni resistant combinations and all 8 of the C. coli resistant combinations contained quinolones, while only 1 out of the 12 C. jejuni combinations contained aminoglycosides and streptothricin. In the following, the antibiotics are ordered from most effective to least effective: aminoglycosides, streptothricin, arsenic, macrolides, beta-lactams, tetracyclines, and finally quinolones.  From this data, health care professionals can be informed that aminoglycosides and streptothricin are the most effective antibiotic treatment for severe Campylobacter cases, while quinolones are the least effective and should be avoided.