Microbiology Congress 2018: Prevalence, antibiotic resistance and molecular characterization of Salmonella serovars in Lebanese broiler chickens: Focus on Salmonella Kentucky - Rima El Hage - Holi Spirit University of Kaslik Rima El Hage

Non-typhoidal Salmonella sp. of chicken origin has always been the major causative pathogen of food poisoning worldwide. Furthermore, non-responsible use of antibiotics promotes the development of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Since data on Salmonella in poultry industry in Lebanon are scarce, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Salmonella at different stages of the production chain, their antibiotic resistance profile and molecular patterns. Over a period of 3 years, samples of feces were collected by a sock method from local Lebanese farms (n=237), poultry meat from slaughterhouses (n=100) and from retail (n=1600).

In parallel, ceca (n=100) and neck skins (n=100) were collected from two major slaughter plants. Isolated Salmonella strains (n=663) were serotyped from which 500 were analyzed for antimicrobial resistance (panel of 29 drugs) using the standard disk diffusion and MIC Method (CLSI guideline). Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using the macro-restriction enzyme Xbal was used to define the molecular patterns of the main serovars