Abstract
The global incidence of foodborne infections and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), particularly
multidrug resistance (MDR), is increasing day by day, and posing a serious public health problem worldwide including Bangladesh. Chicken meat is one of the important sources of
animal protein in Bangladesh, and scarcely information is available on contamination of chicken
meat with foodborne pathogens along with their AMR pattern including resistance genes.
Therefore, the present cross-sectional live bird market (LBM) survey, supershop survey, and sink
survey were aimed to determine the prevalence, and AMR pattern of foodborne bacteria (E. coli,
Salmonella spp. and S. aureus) in chicken meat, cloacal swab, and sewage samples in Bangladesh.
The study also focused on the detection of ẞ-lactamase, carbapenemase, plasmid mediated
quinolone resistance (PMQR), and methicillin resistance genes in the isolated bacteria. A total of
320 retail chicken meat and 64 LBM sewage samples were collected from 64 LBMs of 32 upazilas
of 16 districts in eight divisions of Bangladesh for LBM survey. For supershop survey, a total of
113 frozen chicken meat samples were purchased from 40 outlets of nine branded supershops
available in five megacities in Bangladesh, and for sink survey, 50 cloacal swab and 5 sewage samples were also collected from five wholesale chicken market of Dhaka city. Accordingly, all
the samples were screened for the presence of bacteria along with their resistance pattern by
using cultural and biochemical techniques, antimicrobial susceptibility test, and PCR assay.
Extended-spectrum ẞ-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria and methicillin resistant S. aureus
(MRSA) were screened by double-disk synergy test and cefoxitin disk diffusion test, respectively,
and resistance genes were detected by multiplex PCR. The overall prevalence of E. coli was higher
(71.3%, 76.1%, 88%, 79.7%) in retail chicken meat, frozen chicken meat, cloacal swab, and LBM
sewage, respectively than Salmonella spp. (55.9%, 65.5%, 76%, 32.8%), and S. aureus (38.1%, 54.9%,
72%, 42.2%). The prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli was significantly higher than the ESBLproducing Salmonella in all sample types. In addition, the prevalence of MRSA was found 27% in
retail chicken meat, 37.1% in frozen chicken meat, 50% in cloacal swab, and 37% in LBM sewage
samples. The MDR was observed in > 80% of E. coli, > 90% of Salmonella spp., and > 95% of
S. aureus isolates in all the samples. Notably, 1-2% E. coli and Salmonella spp., and 3-11% S. aureus
isolates were identified as possible extensively drug resistant (pXDR). Furthermore, more than
50% isolates of E. coli, Salmonella spp., and S. aureus were resistant to 8-14 antimicrobial agents in
case of all samples, while 33% isolates were resistant to 15 or more antimicrobials. High single
resistance of these three foodborne bacteria was observed for nalidixic acid, pefloxacin,
ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, doxycycline, and colistin in these three surveys. Among S. aureus isolates, the resistance to oxacillin, cloxacillin, and cefixime were also found
high. Most importantly, approximately 50% of E. coli and 40% of Salmonella spp. isolates were
resistant to imipenem in case of all sample types. The ẞ-lactamase (blaTEM, blaSHV,
blaCTX-M-1, blaCTX-M-2), carbapenemase (blaNDM-1), PMQR (qnrA, qnrB, qnrS), and methicillin resistance (mecA) genes were detected. Phenotypic antimicrobials resistance were strongly correlated with the presence of the antimicrobial resistance genes. This study
demonstrated high prevalence of MDR and existence of pXDR foodborne pathogens in chicken meat, cloacal swab and sewage samples in Bangladesh, which may pose a serious public health hazard. Therefore, this study emphasis to practice good hygiene during slaughtering and processing of chicken meat in the LBMs and supershops to ensure safe foods for public health as
consumers. It is pertinent to mention that good hygienic practice can be achieved by the training of the slaughter house personnel and other associated persons.