Antibiotic resistance pattern and molecular study of foodborne pathogenic bacteria isolated from Poultry meat in Bangladesh

Poultry rearing is a vast agribusiness sector which accounts for a huge portion of the meat demand of the world. It also acts as a wonderful hub for microbial growth and emergence of antibiotic resistance. In this study, poultry meat samples were analyzed for the isolation, characterization and molecular study of bacteria along with the prevalence of multidrug-resistant pathogens using standard bacteriological and molecular methods. According to the bacteriological analysis of the collected samples, the highest TVC and TCC were recorded as log 6.95 and log 5.40 CFU/gm in broiler meats. And the highest TEcC and TSSC were determined as log 3.70 CFU/gm and log 3.29 CFU/gm in layer meat samples respectively. Presence of Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp ., and Vibrio spp . were confirmed by both biochemical and PCR based molecular characterization. Antibiogram study revealed that these pathogens were highly resistant to Ampicillin and Amoxicillin, while Ceftriaxone and Cefotaxime were still much effective against them. Plasmid profile of the selected isolates showed that all Salmonella spp. carry heterogeneous plasmids with a 140 MDa plasmid present in all isolates. Findings of this study reinforces the concern regarding the quality of poultry meats that are being consumed across the country and calls for improved poultry rearing methods and controlled use of antibiotics. • High prevalence of foodborne pathogens in retail poultry meat. • Widespread multidrug resistance (MDR) among isolates. • Resistance to first-line antibiotics. • Presence of virulence-associated genes in pathogenic isolates with PCR.