Virulence profiles and antibiotic resistance patterns ofisolated from clinical samples and chicken meat: Implications for public health and food safety.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The emergence of antibiotic-resistantstrains carrying diverse virulence genes poses significant public health risks. The transmission of disease through the food supply chain necessitates comprehensive studies on clinical and food-derived isolates. AIM: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of virulence factors, antibiotic resistance phenotypes, resistance gene profiles, and molecular typing ofisolates from clinical specimens and chicken meat samples. METHODS: A total of 170 samples were collected, including 90 human clinical specimens (Al-Diwaniyah City hospitals) and 80 chicken meat samples (local stores).isolation and identification were performed using culture-based techniques, biochemical assays, and Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification targeting thegene. Antibiotic susceptibility was assessed against multiple classes of antibiotics. PCR was used to identify virulence and antibiotic resistance genes. RESULTS: was isolated from 44.44% of the clinical specimens and 45% of the chicken meat samples. Erythromycin (85.52%) and tetracycline (76.31%) showed the highest antibiotic resistance, with clinical isolates generally more resistant than chicken meat-derived isolates. MAR (MAR index = 1) was observed in clinical isolates (pattern AH1) and several chicken meat isolates (pattern AO1). The virulence genes(76.31%),(69.73%), and(65.78%) were highly prevalent, with clinical isolates exhibiting a higher virulence profile diversity than chicken meat isolates. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of multidrug resistant and virulence factors amongisolates underscores a potential public health risk and highlights the need for stringent surveillance and antibiotic stewardship in both clinical and food industry settings.