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Prevalence and antibacterial susceptibilities of Arcobacter spp. and Campylobacter spp. from fresh vegetables

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Abstract

This study was aimed at the isolation and identification of Arcobacter spp. and Campylobacter spp. from fresh vegetables sold at district markets in the Kayseri province, and at the determination of the antibacterial susceptibility of the recovered isolates. For this purpose, a total of 175 vegetable samples, including 35 spinach, 35 lettuce, 35 parsley, 35 arugula, and 35 radish samples, were collected. While the pre-enrichment and membrane filtration techniques were used for the isolation of Arcobacter spp., the pre-enrichment and direct inoculation methods were used for the isolation of Campylobacter spp. The isolates were identified by means of phenotypic tests and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using genus- and species-specific primers. In addition, the susceptibilities of the isolates to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, enrofloxacin, erythromycin, gentamicin, neomycin, streptomycin, and tetracycline were determined by the disk diffusion method. Out of the 175 vegetable samples tested, 93 (53.14%) were found to be positive for Arcobacter spp., and 119 Arcobacter spp. isolates were recovered from these 93 positive samples. All of the samples examined were found to be negative for Campylobacter spp. One hundred one (86%) and 14 (10%) of the 119 Arcobacter isolates obtained were identified as A. butzleri and A. cryaerophilus, respectively, but four isolates could not be identified at the species level by mPCR. Mixed contamination with more than one species and/or genotypes of Arcobacter was detected in 24 of the positive samples. While all of the Arcobacter isolates were susceptible to erythromycin, gentamicin, streptomycin, and tetracycline, 2 (1.68%), 2 (1.68%), and 5 (4.20%) isolates were resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, enrofloxacin, and neomycin, respectively. Consequently, the determination of a high prevalence of arcobacters and mixed contamination with more than one species and/or genotypes of arcobacters in vegetables often consumed raw by humans demonstrated that the consumption of raw vegetables may be a risk to the public health.

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Acknowledgements

This study was prepared from the Ahmet YAMANs master's thesis conducted with Professor Seçil ABAY (supervisor) financially supported by (Project No: TYL-2019-8814) The Scientific Research Council of Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey. The authors would like to thank the Scientific Research Council of Erciyes University for providing financial support.

Funding

The funding was provided by The Scientific Research Council of Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey (Project No: TYL-2019-8814).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

    Seçil Abay, Emre Karakaya & Fuat Aydin

  2. Rebuclic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Kayseri, Turkey

    Ahmet Yaman

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  1. Seçil Abay
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  2. Ahmet Yaman
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  4. Fuat Aydin
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Contributions

SA designed the research; AY collected the vegetable samples from the district markets; SA and AY isolated the bacteria from the samples and identified the isolates using phenotypic and PCR methods; FA, SA, and EK analyzed the antibacterial susceptibilities of the isolates; SA and AY discussed the results and wrote the draft manuscript; SA and FA reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Seçil Abay.

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Abay, S., Yaman, A., Karakaya, E. et al. Prevalence and antibacterial susceptibilities of Arcobacter spp. and Campylobacter spp. from fresh vegetables. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 38, 132 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-022-03315-3

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