Multidrug resistance and virulence profile of the commensal Proteus mirabilis isolated from a native Iraqi frozen chicken carcass

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Proteus mirabilis in frozen chicken carcass from local slaughterhouse. It assesses the activities of nine antimicrobial agents and the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes and virulence genes. Thirty samples were collected from five local Iraqi companies. and then the antibiotic-resistance genes and virulence factor-related genes were detected via polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The results revealed that Nine P. mirabilis isolates were recovered, and the majority of the isolates were resistant to both nalidixic acid and azithromycin at a ratio of (100 %), followed by trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (sul1) (88.8 %), whereas the isolates were susceptible to imipenem and meropenem, and both ceftazidime and cefotaxime were efficient at a ratio of (88.8 %). All the isolates (100 %) were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics and were classified as multidrug resistant. The PCR results indicated that the most common resistance genes were DNA Gyrase Subunit A Gene (gyrA) (100 %), Dihydropteroate Synthase Gene (sul1) (88.8 %), and Florenicol Resistance Gene (floR) (88.8 %), followed by Aminoglycoside N-Acetyltransferase Gene (acc (6')-lb) (44.4 %) and Macrolide Phosphotransferase Gene (mphA) (33.3 %). In addition, the virulence genes Zinc Metalloprotease A Gene (zapA), Uridine Monophosphate Synthase Gene (uraC), Histone-Modifying Protein A Gene (hpmA), Flagellin A Gene (flaA), Anti-Sigma Factor RsbA Gene (rsbA), and Multidrug Resistance Protein A Gene (mrpA) were found in the same proportion (100 %) of all P. mirabilis isolates. Our study emphasized that Proteus mirabilis has a high frequency of antibiotic resistance as a multidrug resistance pattern and furthermore demonstrated a high level of virulence factor gene detection, which might be a threat to food safety and human health. The phylogenetic tree analysis of the P. mirabilis isolates from chicken meat revealed high similarity to the database strain.