Broiler Chickens as Source of Human Fluoroquinolone- Resistant Escherichia coli

• Main Authors: Thorunn R. Thorsteinsdottir, Gunnsteinn Haraldsson, Vala Fridriksdottir, Karl G. Kristinsson, Eggert Gunnarsson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Slaughter; Iceland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.306.4629; http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/16/1/pdfs/09-0243.pdf

To investigate feed as a source for fl uoroquinoloneresistant Escherichia coli in broiler chickens, we compared antimicrobial drug–resistant E. coli from broiler feed and broilers with ciprofl oxacin-resistant human clinical isolates by using pulsed-fi eld gel electrophoresis. Feed was implicated as a source for ciprofl oxacin-resistant broiler-derived E. coli and broilers as a source for ciprofl oxacin-resistant human-derived E. coli. In a previous study, we found a relatively high prevalence of antimicrobial and especially quinolone resistance among Escherichia coli isolates from broiler chickens and broiler meat (1), despite no known antimicrobial drug selection pressure in chicken farming in Iceland and biosecurity measures to prevent transmission of infectious agents into farms. Broiler houses are cleaned and disinfected after broiler flocks are transported to slaughter. Therefore, resistant bacteria are unlikely to persist in the broiler houses. However, animal feed can be contaminated with antimicrobial drug–resistant E. coli (2). The high prevalence of quinolone-resistant E. coli isolates obtained from broilers and broiler meat coincides with an increasing prevalence of fluoroquinolone resistance among human clinical E. coli isolates in Iceland. This increase correlated with increased use of fluoroquinolones in clinical settings (3). We examined whether the prevalence of resistant E. coli strains in broilers had changed since our previous study and whether broiler feed could be a source for the resistant strains. Furthermore, we compared the genotypes of ciprofloxacin-resistant broiler, broiler meat, and broiler feed E.