Isolation, characterization and antibiotic resistance of Proteus mirabilis from Belgian broiler carcasses at retail and human stool

• Published in: Food microbiology 2021-06, Vol.96, p.103724-103724, Article 103724
• Main Authors: Yu, Zhongjia, Joossens, Marie, Van den Abeele, Anne-Marie, Kerkhof, Pieter-Jan, Houf, Kurt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibiotic resistance; Broiler carcass; Characterization; Human stool; Isolation; P. mirabilis
• ISSN: 0740-0020; 1095-9998
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2020.103724

Proteus mirabilis is an important pathogen involved in human urinary tract infections, and also more isolated from stools of patients with diarrheal disease than from healthy patients. The role of food, especially poultry products as source for human infection and multi-resistant strains remains unclear. As a resident in broilers’ intestines, P. mirabilis can contaminate broiler carcasses due to slaughter practices, and be a risk for human infection. The present study evaluated the performance of five isolation media, and subsequently examined the presence of P. mirabilis on broiler carcasses at retail. Additionally, isolates were characterized by the Dienes’ test, repetitive element PCR fingerprinting and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and their antibiotic resistance profile determined. Using a combined isolation protocol on blood agar, xylose lysine deoxycholate agar and violet red bile glucose agar, P. mirabilis was isolated from 29 out of 80 broiler carcasses (36.25%) with a mean contamination level of 2.25 ± 0.50 log10 CFU/g. A high strain heterogeneity was present in isolates from broilers and human stool. The same strains were not shared, but the antibiotic resistance profiling was similar. A role of poultry products as source for human infection should be taken into account. •Contamination level of P. mirabilis on broiler carcasses was 2.25 ± 0.5log10 CFU/g.•A high strain heterogeneity of P. mirabilis was present.•Circulating of same P. mirabilis stains between human patients were observed.•Similar antibiotic resistance profiles exist between chicken and human strains.