title: High genetic similarity of ciprofloxacin-resistant Campylobacter jejuni in central Europe.
abstract: Campylobacteriosis is the leading zoonosis in the European Union with the majority of cases attributed to Campylobacter jejuni. Although the disease is usually self-limiting, some severe cases need to be treated with antibiotics, primarily macrolides and quinolones. However, the resistance to the latter is reaching alarming levels in most of the EU countries. To shed light on the expansion of antibiotic resistance in central Europe, we have investigated genetic similarity across 178 ciprofloxacin-resistant C. jejuni mostly isolated in Slovenia, Austria and Germany. We performed comparative genetic similarity analyses using allelic types of seven multilocus sequence typing housekeeping genes, and single nucleotide polymorphisms of a quinolone resistance determining region located within the DNA gyrase subunit A gene. This analysis revealed high genetic similarity of isolates from clonal complex ST-21 that carry gyrA allelic type 1 in all three of these central-European countries, suggesting these ciprofloxacin resistant isolates arose from a recent common ancestor and are spread clonally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Technology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Jasna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kovač
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Technology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Neža
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Čadež
authors.affiliation: Department for Farm Animals and Veterinary Public Health, Institute of Milk Hygiene, Milk Technology and Food Science, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Beatrix
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stessl
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory for Campylobacter, Department of Biological Safety, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stingl
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology and Parasitology, Veterinary Faculty, University of Ljubljana Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gruntar
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology and Parasitology, Veterinary Faculty, University of Ljubljana Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Matjaž
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ocepek
authors.affiliation: Department for Public Health Microbiology Ljubljana, Centre for Medical Microbiology, National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Marija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trkov
authors.affiliation: Department for Farm Animals and Veterinary Public Health, Institute of Milk Hygiene, Milk Technology and Food Science, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Technology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Smole Možina
keywords: Campylobacter jejuni; QRDR; ciprofloxacin resistance; gyrA; multilocus sequence typing; resistance expansion