Prevalence, Antibiograms, and Transferable tet(O) Plasmid of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli Isolated from Raw Chicken, Pork, and Human Clinical Cases in Korea

The antibiotic resistance patterns and prevalence of the transferable tet(O) plasmid were investigated in Campylobacter jejunt and Campylobacter colt isolates from raw chicken, pork. and humans with clinical campylobacteriosis A total of 180 C jejunt and C colt isolates were identified, and the prevalence rates of C jejum and C colt in raw chicken samples were 83% (83 of 100) and 73% (73 of 100). respectively. Twelve percent (6 of 50) and 10% (5 of 50) of pork samples were contaminated with C jejum and C colt, respectively. Disk diffusion susceptibility testing revealed that the most frequently detected resistance was to tetracycline (92.2%). followed by nalidixic acid (75 6%), ciprofloxacin (65 0%). azithromycin (41.5%), ampicillin (33 3%). and streptomycin (26 1%). Of the C mum and C coli isolates, 65 7% (n = 109) contained plasmids carrying the tet(O) gene Six C jejum isolates and two C colt isolates with high-level resistance to tetracycline (MIC = 256 mu g/ml) harbored the tet(O) plasmid, which is transferable to other C jejum and C colt isolates. These results demonstrate the presence of an interspecies transferable plasmid containing the ten(O) gene and a high prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Korean Campylobacter isolates and provide an understanding of the antibiotic resistance distribution among Campylobacter species in Korea.