Prevalence, Toxinotyping, and Antibiotic Resistance Profile of Clostridium Perfringens Isolated From Beef and Chicken Meat and Meat Products In Egypt

Clostridium perfringens poses a risk to public health through the food chain, specifically beef and chicken meat, which is thought to be the primary vehicle for the transmission of C. perfringens from animals to humans. Therefore, we sought to highlight the prevalence, toxinotypes, and antibiotic resistance of C. perfringens isolated from beef and chicken meat and meat products in Egypt. A total of 92/471 (19.5%, 95% CI: 15.9-23.1%) C. perfringens strains obtained from 471 beef and chicken meat and meat product samples were phenotypically and genotypically identified. The highest occurrence of C. perfringens isolates was found in raw chicken meat (26.4%, 32/121, 95% CI: 18.8-34%), followed by chicken luncheon, sausage (23.3%, 7/30, 95% CI: 8.2-38.5), beefburger (20%, 6/30, 95% CI: 6.8-33.2%). In contrast to other identified toxinotypes (C, F, D, and B), toxinotype A was common (61.9%) among our isolates. Moreover, the toxin genes cpa (61.9%), cpb (21.7%), and cpe (14.1%), were frequent, in comparison with the etx gene (3.3%), among the examined C. perfringens strains. The results of antimicrobial susceptibility were remarkable, since most of the strains (95.7%) presented multidrug-resistant (MDR) patterns with multiple antibiotic resistance index of 0.11-0.79. The phenotypic resistance showed the highest resistance rates to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (80.4%), followed by tetracycline (73.9%), amoxicillin (72.8%), ampicillin (65.2%), erythromycin (59.8%), gentamycin (48.9%). On the other hand, the lowest resistance rate was observed for cefoxitin (7.6%). Strains harbored antibiotic resistance genes in different percentages, including tetracycline (tetM) (65.2%), erythromycin gene (ermB) (54.3%), β-lactamase (blaTEM) (61.9%), and quinolones (qnrA [30.4%] and qnrB [21.7%]). According to our research, the emergence of MDR strains as the predominant phenotypes has exacerbated the C. perfringens foodborne epidemic.