Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance of Campylobacter Species Isolated from Backyard Chickens in Grenada, West Indies

Aim: This study was carried out to assess the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in free range chickens in Grenada, West Indies and to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of isolates.

Study Design: Cloacal swabs were collected from 315 free range chickens from randomly selected households from all six parishes of Grenada between June and July 2014. Cloacal swabs were cultured for Campylobacter in the Pathobiology Diagnostic Laboratory, School of Veterinary medicine, St. Georges University Grenada. Isolates were further tested through PCR for speciation.

Methodology: Standard culture methods for isolation of Campylobacter spp were used. Isolates were characterized by conventional phenotypic tests and confirmed by PCR using species specific primers. The 16s rRNA gene for Campylobacter spp.; the map A gene for C. jejuni and the ceuE gene for C. coli were selected for PCR. Isolates were tested through E-test for their antimicrobial susceptibility using Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin, Chloramphenicol, Erythromycin, Gentamicin, Metronidazole and Tetracycline.

Results: A total of 158 isolates (50.2%) were obtained by culture. PCR on 93 isolates identified 33 isolates as C. jejuni, 6 as C. coli and 54 as mixed infection with C. jejuni and C. coli. None of the isolates was resistant to chloramphenicol and erythromycin; susceptibility to other antimicrobials varied among isolates. Multidrug resistance was high in C. coli (33.3%), followed by mixed infection isolates (22.2%) and C. jejuni (12.0%).

Conclusion: Results of the study show that approximately 50% of backyard chickens in Grenada harbor Campylobacter spp. These backyard chickens pose a great risk for humans as hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) is not observed during the slaughter and processing of these chickens.