Occurrence of <i>Campylobacter jejuni</i> in Gulls Feeding on Zagreb Rubbish Tip, Croatia; Their Diversity and Antimicrobial Susceptibility in Perspective with Human and Broiler Isolates

• Main Authors: Luka Jurinović, Sanja Duvnjak, Gordan Kompes, Silvija Šoprek, Borka Šimpraga, Fani Krstulović, Marina Mikulić, Andrea Humski
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
• Series: Pathogens
• Subjects: MLST; wild birds; gulls; <i>Laridae</i>; AMR
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/9/9/695

Campylobacteriosis is the most common gastrointestinal bacterial disease in the European Union (EU). Wild birds are one of the natural reservoirs of these pathogens. In this study we tested cloacal swabs of 643 gulls captured on rubbish tip in Zagreb, Croatia for the presence of <i>Campylobacter </i>spp. and found 168 <i>Campylobacter</i> positive samples. We used multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to genotype 62 random <i>C. jejuni </i>isolates from gulls, 24 isolates from broiler caeca, 27 isolates from broiler neck skins and 23 human isolates. Altogether, we identified 44 different STs, from which 19 were newly described. Most of the new STs (14) originate from gulls. Although humans and broilers share the majority of STs and isolates from gulls are separated from these, there was one ST present in all three hosts: 45. Additionally antimicrobial susceptibility to six antimicrobials was performed on 123 <i>C. jejuni</i> strains isolated from broiler caeca (<i>n</i> = 22), neck skins of broilers (<i>n</i> = 20), gulls cloacal swabs (<i>n</i> = 50) and human faeces (<i>n</i> = 31) by the broth microdilution method. Results show lower resistance of gull isolates to NAL and CIP, while resistance to TET was as high as in human and broiler isolates.