Campylobacter species are among the major bacteria implicated in human gastrointestinal infections and are majorly found in faeces of domestic animals, sewage discharges and agricultural runoff. These pathogens have been implicated in diseases outbreaks through consumption of contaminated milk and water in some parts of the globe and reports on this is very scanty in the Eastern Cape Province. Hence, this study evaluated the occurrence as well as virulence and antimicrobial-associated makers of Campylobacter species recovered from milk and water samples. A total of 56 water samples and 72 raw milk samples were collected and the samples were processed for enrichment in Bolton broth and incubated for 48 h in 10% CO₂ at 42 °C under microaerobic condition. Thereafter, the enriched cultures were further processed and purified. After which, presumptive Campylobacter colonies were isolated and later confirmed by PCR using specific primers for the detection of the genus Campylobacter, target species and virulence associated genes. Antimicrobial resistance profiles of the isolates were determined by disk diffusion method against a panel of 12 antibiotics and relevant genotypic resistance genes were assessed by PCR assay. A total of 438 presumptive Campylobacter isolates were obtained; from which, 162 were identified as belonging to the genus Campylobacter of which 36.92% were obtained from water samples and 37.11% from milk samples. The 162 confirmed isolates were further delineated into four species, of which, 7.41%, 27.16% and 8.64% were identified as C. fetus, C. jejuni and C. coli respectively. Among the virulence genes screened for, the iam (32.88%) was most prevalent, followed by flgR (26.87%) gene and cdtB and cadF (5.71% each) genes. Of the 12 antibiotics tested, the highest phenotypic resistance displayed by Campylobacter isolates was against clindamycin (95.68%), while the lowest was observed against imipenem (21.47%). Other high phenotypic resistance displayed by the isolates were against erythromycin (95.06%), followed by ceftriaxone (93.21%), doxycycline (87.65%), azithromycin and ampicillin (87.04% each), tetracycline (83.33%), chloramphenicol (78.27%), ciprofloxacin (77.78%), levofloxacin (59.88%) and gentamicin (56.17%). Relevant resistance genes were assessed in the isolates that showed high phenotypic resistance, and the highest resistance gene harbored by the isolates was catII (95%) gene while VIM, KPC, Ges, bla-_OXA-48-like, tetC, tetD, tetK, IMI and catI genes were not detected. The occurrence of this pathogen and the detection of virulence and antimicrobial resistance-associated genes in Campylobacter isolates recovered from milk/water samples position them a risk to human health.

中文翻译：

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从南非东开普省两个区市的零售鲜奶和水样品中分离出的弯曲杆菌物种的发生情况、毒力和抗菌素耐药性相关标记。

弯曲杆菌属是与人类胃肠道感染有关的主要细菌之一，主要存在于家畜粪便、污水排放和农业径流中。在全球某些地区，这些病原体因饮用受污染的牛奶和水而导致疾病爆发，而东开普省对此的报道却很少。因此，本研究评估了从牛奶和水样中回收的弯曲杆菌属物种的出现情况以及毒力和抗菌相关的制造者。总共收集了56份水样和72份原料奶样品，并将样品在Bolton肉汤中进行富集处理，并在42℃、微氧条件下、 10%CO _{2中孵育48小时。}此后，对富集的培养物进行进一步处理和纯化。此后，分离假定的弯曲杆菌菌落，并随后使用特异性引物通过 PCR 进行确认，以检测弯曲杆菌属、目标物种和毒力相关基因。通过纸片扩散法针对一组 12 种抗生素确定分离株的抗菌谱，并通过 PCR 测定评估相关基因型耐药基因。总共获得了438 株假定的弯曲杆菌分离株；其中，162个属于弯曲杆菌属，其中36.92%来自水样，37.11%来自牛奶样品。162株确诊分离株进一步划分为4个种，其中7.41%、27.16%和8.64%被鉴定为C . 胎儿，C . 空肠和C . 分别是大肠杆菌。在筛选的毒力基因中，iam（32.88%）最为普遍，其次是flgR（26.87%）基因以及cdtB和cadF（各5.71%）基因。在测试的12种抗生素中，弯曲杆菌分离株对克林霉素表现出最高的表型耐药性（95.68％），而对亚胺培南的表型耐药性最低（21.47％）。分离株表现出的其他高表型耐药性是对红霉素（95.06％），其次是头孢曲松（93.21％），多西环素（87.65％），阿奇霉素和氨苄青霉素（各87.04％），四环素（83.33％），氯霉素（78.27％） 、环丙沙星（77.78%）、左氧氟沙星（59.88%）和庆大霉素（56.17%）。对表现出高表型抗性的菌株进行相关抗性基因评估，其中抗性最高的菌株为catII基因（95%），VIM、KPC基因、Ges、bla- _OXA - 48-like、tetC、tetD、tetK、IMI和catI基因均未检测到。这种病原体的出现以及从牛奶/水样本中回收的弯曲杆菌分离株中检测到的毒力和抗菌素耐药性相关基因，使它们对人类健康构成风险。