Public Health Risk of Campylobacter spp. Isolated from Slaughterhouse and Retail Poultry Meat: Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles

<i>Campylobacter</i> spp. represents one of the most frequently incriminated pathogens in the evolution of foodborne gastroenteritis in humans worldwide. Alongside <i>Salmonella</i> spp., <i>Yersinia</i> spp., <i>Escherichia coli</i>, and <i>Listeria monocytogenes,</i> these pathogens represent a principal threat to public health because they are vehiculated to humans via food products and many of them have developed alarming resistance to different classes of antimicrobials. Thus, the present study aimed to provide scientifically relevant data on the public health risk represented by <i>Campylobacter</i> spp., contamination of chicken carcasses at the slaughterhouse and retail levels, and the antimicrobial resistance of the isolated strains. A total of 130 samples collected from slaughterhouses (n = 40) and retail stores (n = 90) were analyzed using standardized microbiological methods (ISO 10272-1:2017). Of these, the overall prevalence of <i>Campylobacter</i> spp. was 27.7%, with a prevalence at the slaughterhouse level of 32.5% and at the retail level of 25.5%. Following antimicrobial resistance profile determinations using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion assay, the isolated strains showed resistance to the following antimicrobials in descending order: ciprofloxacin (41.6%), tetracycline (25.0%), chloramphenicol (16.6%), gentamicin (11.1%), ertapenem (5.6%), and erythromycin (2.8%). The study results confirm that chicken meat may pose a threat to public health and, moreover, that due to the widespread use of antimicrobials, a large number of strains have developed antimicrobial resistance, leading to difficulties in the treatment of various foodborne diseases.