Identification of virulence genes, β-lactams and quinolones resistance-associated genes and integrons in salmonella isolated from retail chicken meat and giblets in Egypt

Anotace: The study investigated the prevalence of virulent and antibiotic resistant Salmonella (S) in retail chicken meat (CM) and pooled giblets (PG) in Egypt. Seventy-two and 64 % of examined CM and PG samples harbored Salmonellae, respectively. When S. Infantis was the most predominant serovar, followed by S. Kentucky, and then S. Virchow. The antibiotic resistance experiment showed a high rate of multiple drug resistant (MDR) Salmonellae. Remarkably, 64.7% of the isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (the drug of choice for Salmonella infection). Molecularly, a noteworthy correlation between the MDR and the presence of integrons class 1 and 3. When, integrons 1 and 3 were detected in 100 and 92 % of identified MDR isolates, respectively, while class 2 integrons were not found. Surprisingly, 53.8 and 100% of the molecularly identified isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid, despite the absence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR)-associated genes (qnrA, qnrB and qnrS, aac(6′)-Ib-cr and qepA) from all MDR isolates. This indicates that other genetic factors could be incriminated in this pattern. Beta-lactam resistance was explored by the existence of blaTEM, blaCTX, and blaCMY-2 genes in most MDR isolates. Additionally, 4 virulence genes were detected in almost all serovars. Concerning virulence genes, invA, hilA, sopB, and stn were detected in 100, 100, 100 and 94.7 % of MDR serovars, respectively. While, spvC was detected in only 7.6 %, and pef was absent. The high prevalence of MDR virulent Salmonella strains in retail chicken meat and giblets in Egypt should be faced with a great worry, as consumers could be under a great public health risk.