High prevalence of β‑lactam and aminoglycoside resistance in Clostridium perfringens isolates from food producing-animals in Kerman, Iran

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVESClostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) is a ubiquitous, anaerobic, Gram-positive and spore-forming bacteria, ranking amongst the most important pathogens living in the intestinal tracts of both humans and animals. Under certain conditions, C. perfringens may become an opportunistic pathogen and over-proliferate, producing a wide spectrum of toxins that can lead to its pathogenic effects. Meanwhile, C. perfringens is recognized as one of the most important foodborne pathogens in humans; and considered as one of the leading cause of nosocomial diarrhea. So, emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains makes the dealing with the bacteria more challenging. The objective of this study was to determine the resistance of C. perfringens isolates to β‑lactam and aminoglycoside antibiotic classes.MATERIALS AND METHODSA total of ۲۷۳ C. perfringens isolates, which were previously recovered from fecal samples of the diseased goats and sheep from Kerman province in southeast of Iran, evaluated for antimicrobial resistancy against the penicillin (β-lactam) and streptomycin (aminoglycoside) antibiotics by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe findings of our study demonstrated the high antibiotic resistant rate of C. perfringens isolates in food producing-animals. The highest resistancy were observed to streptomycin (۸۳.۵۱%) and then penicillin (۴۱.۰۲%) antibiotics, respectively.CONCLUSIONTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study regarding the antimicrobial susceptibility of C. perfringens in food-animals in Kerman province of Iran. The present findings provide supplementary substantiation for the potential involvement of animals as a reservoir for the resistant C. perfringens strains.

کلیدواژه ها:

Clostridium perfringens ، β‑lactam ، Aminoglycoside ، Penicillin ، Streptomycin