Resistance of Campylobacter Spp. to Quinolones in Food Producing Animals in Styria (austria)

Introduction Campylobacter, especially C. jejuni, is one of the most common bacterial causes of diarrhoeal illness in humans (1). Feierl et al. (2) reported 3,771 cases of illness caused by C. jejuni in Austria in 2003, corresponding to an incidence of 46.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. The resistance of Campylobacter to quinolones is increasingly limiting their therapeutic use. The rise in human infections caused by C. jejuni and coli shows the significance of growing quinolone resistance in Campylobacter (3). The goal of our study was to investigate the extent of resistance of Campylobacter to quinolones. Material and Methods Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from faeces of broilers (n=327), faeces of cattle (n=228) and from the surface of broiler meat (n=169); Campylobacter coli was isolated from pig bowels (n=365). Isolation of Campylobacter spp. is done by streaking the faeces on mCCDA agar. After biochemical verification of suspect colonies, they were tested for resistance to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid using the SENSITITRE system, a commercially available MIC technique. The breakpoints used are recommended by NCCLS.