Antibiotic resistance profile and RAPD analysis of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from vegetables farms and retail markets

Objective: To investigate antibiotic resistance profile and characterize Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) isolates using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Methods: Ninety eight C. jejuni isolates from farms and retail outlets were screened against 10 antibiotics commonly used clinically and agriculturally by using disk diffusion method. RAPD analysis was done to characterize 98 C. jejuni isolates. Results: Fifty-one percent of the isolates had multiple antibiotic resistance index 0.2 and below. This indicated that the isolates in the vegetables were not from the high risk environment or extensive farming practices. C. jejuni isolates found resistant towards penicillin G (93%), vancomycin (86%), ampicillin (35%), erythromycin (28%), genta-mycin (4%), amikacin (3%), enrofloxacin (1%), norfloxacin (1%) and no resistance to-wards ciprofloxacin. RAPD clustering analysis showed that the contamination of C. jejuni in vegetables was likely due to cross contamination at retail markets. Conclusions: C. jejuni contamination in vegetables at retail markets was due to cross contamination. Current finding proved that C. jejuni in small scale vegetables production was less expose towards antibiotic abuse.

Prevalence and quantification of Listeria monocytogenes in beef offal at retail level in Selangor, Malaysia

A total of 63 beef offal samples (beef liver = 16; beef lung = 14; beef intestine = 9; beef tripe = 15; beef spleen = 9) from three wet markets (A, B, and C) in Selangor, Malaysia were examined for the prevalence and microbial load of Listeria monocytogenes. A combination of the most probable number and polymerase chain reaction (MPN-PCR) method was employed in this study. It was found that L. monocytogenes detected in 33.33% of the beef offal samples. The prevalence of L. monocytogenes in beef offal purchased from wet markets A, B, and C were 22.73%, 37.50% and 41.18% respectively. The density of L. monocytogenes in all the samples ranged from<3upto> 2,400 MPN/g. The findings in this study indicate that beef offal can be a potential vehicle of foodborne listeriosis.

Detection of tdh and trh genes in Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from Corbicula moltkiana prime in West Sumatera, Indonesia.

The occurrence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in raw Corbicula moltkiana Prime from Lake Singkarak and Pasar Raya Padang market and in cooked samples in West Sumatera, Indonesia, was studied. Thirteen raw and seven cooked bivalve samples were positive using CHROMAgar Vibrio medium. All 47 V parahaemolyticus isolates were positive for toxR gene but negative for trh. However, 36% (17/47) of V parahaemolyticus strains were positive for tdh gene. Antibiotic profiling showed that 76% and 38% of isolates from raw and cooked bivalves respectively were resistant to ampicillin. Using RAPD-PCR analysis, most of the strains were clustered according to their source of isolation but some of the strains from raw and cooked samples were clustered together. These results indicate that pathogenic V parahaemolyticus isolates are present in Corbicula moltkiana Prime in West Sumatera, Indonesia, suggesting that V parahaemolyticus may also be present in seafood in other regions of Indonesia.

Characterization of vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from coastal seawater in peninsular Malaysia.

Twenty-one Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolates representing 21 samples of coastal seawater from three beaches in peninsular Malaysia were found to be sensitive to streptomycin, norfloxacin and chloramphenicol. Resistance was observed to penicillin (100%), ampicillin (95.2%), carbenicilin (95.2%), erythromycin (95.2%), bacitracin (71.4%), cephalothin (28.6%), moxalactam (28.6%), kanamycin (19.1%), tetracycline (14.3%), nalidixic acid (9.5%) and gentamicin (9.5%). Plasmids of 2.6 to 35.8 mDa were detected among plasmid-containing isolates. All isolates carried the Vp-toxR gene specific to V. parahaemolyticus and were negative for the tdh gene, but only one isolate was positive for the trh gene. DNA fingerprinting of the isolates using ERIC-PCR and PFGE showed that the isolates belong to two major clonal groups, with several isolates from different locations in the same group, indicating the presence of similar strains in the different locations.

Antibiotic resistance, plasmid profile and RAPD-PCR analysis of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) clinical isolates.

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is a leading cause of diarrhea among infants in developing countries. A total of 38 EPEC isolates, obtained from diarrhea patients of Hospital Miri, Sarawak, were investigated through plasmid profile, antibiotic resistance and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. From the 8 types of antibiotics used, all isolates were 100% resistant to furoxime, cephalothin and sulphamethoxazole and showed high multiple antibiotic resistant (MAR) indexes, ranging from 0.5 to 1.0. In plasmid profiling, 22 isolates (58%) showed the presence of one or more plasmids in the range 1.0 to 30.9 mDa. The dendrogram obtained from the results of the RAPD-PCR discriminated the isolates into 30 single isolates and 3 clusters at the level of 40% similarity. The EPEC isolates were highly diverse, as shown by their differing plasmid profiles, antibiotic resistance patterns and RAPD profiles.