Characterization of β-lactamase and quinolone resistant Clostridium perfringens recovered from broiler chickens with necrotic enteritis in Bangladesh

Clostridium perfringens causes necrotic enteritis (NE) and is considered a major economic burden in the broiler industry and a significant foodborne pathogen, worldwide.

Clostridium perfringens isolated from NE affected broiler chickens was aimed to characterize and the presence of β-lactamase and quinolone resistant genes were also investigated in the isolates.

A total of 224 intestinal and caecal specimens were collected from NE affected broiler chickens and cultured to isolate C. perfringens. The toxicogenic characterization of C. perfringens was appraised using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antibiotic susceptibility testing (disc diffusion method). The selected C. perfringens isolates were characterized for β-lactamase and quinolone encoding genes by PCR analysis.

All isolates were cultured positive for C. perfringens and the toxin-encoding genes of C. perfringens (α-, β-, β2-, ε-, ι-, and enterotoxin) were also identified. About 65.6% of isolates had a multi-drug resistant (MDR) profile but none of these isolates were resistant or susceptible to all screened antibiotics. A subset of isolates, 160 and 98 were analyzed for β-lactamase and quinolone genes, respectively, and recognized blaTEM, blaSHV, and blaOXA in 64 (40%; CI: 32.35-48.03%; P<0.001) isolates, and qnrB and qnrS in 28 (28.57%; CI: 19.90-38.58%; P<0.001) isolates except qnrA.

Therefore, the isolates of C. perfringens were toxicogenic and carried β-lactamase, and quinolone resistance genes. Nowadays, the rational use of antibiotics and safe production of broiler chickens are the major concern to save public health.