title: Prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility and virulotyping of Listeria species and Listeria monocytogenes isolated from open-air fish markets.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and characterization of Listeria species and Listeria monocytogenes isolated from raw fish and open-air fish market environments. Eight hundred and sixty two samples including raw fish and fish market environments (samples from workers' hands, workers' knives, containers and work surface) were collected from the open-air fish markets in the Northern region of Iran.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Listeria spp. was isolated from 104/488 (21.3%) raw fish and 29/374 (7.8%) of samples from open-air fish market environment. The isolates of Listeria spp. included L. innocua (35.3%), L. monocytogenes (32.3%), L. seeligeri (18%), and L. ivanovii (14.3%). Of the 43 L. monocytogenes isolates, 31 (72.1%), 10 (23.3%) and 2 (4.7%) belonged to serovars 1/2a, 4b, and 1/2b, respectively. The inlA, inlB, inlC, inlJ, actA, hlyA, iap, plcA, and prfA virulence-associated genes were detected in almost all of the L. monocytogenes isolates. The Listeria spp. isolates showed high resistance against tetracycline (23.3%), penicillin G, and cephalothin (each 16.5%). Besides, we observed significant resistance level to tetracycline (27.9%), ampicillin (20.9%), cephalothin, penicillin G, and streptomycin (each 16.3%) in the L. monocytogenes isolates. All of the isolates were susceptible to cefotaxime, gentamicin, kanamycin, and pefloxacin. We found that tetM (25.6%), tetA (23.3%), ampC (14%), and penA (11.6%) were the most prevalent antibiotic resistance genes in the L. monocytogenes isolates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recovery of potentially pathogenic L. monocytogenes from raw fish and environment of open-air fish market samples in this study is a convincing evidence for the zoonotic potential of listeriosis.
authors.affiliation: Biohealth Science Program, Institute of Biological Science, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. mordabenilofari@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jamali
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. paydarmj@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohammadjavad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paydar
authors.affiliation: Biohealth Science Program, Institute of Biological Science, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. salmah_r@um.edu.my.
authors.forename: Salmah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. looicy@um.edu.my.
authors.forename: Chung Yeng
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Looi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. wonfen@um.edu.my.
authors.forename: Won Fen
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Islamic Azad University-Karaj Branch, Karaj, 31485-313, Iran. bradmehr@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Behrad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Radmehr
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Reproduction Animale, Université de Montréal, C.P. 5000, St-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada. Abedini_a78@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Atefeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abedini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005399:Fishes; D005516:Food Microbiology; D007492:Iran; D008087:Listeria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015995:Prevalence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D037521:Virulence Factors