Antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter: prevalence and trends in Japan

Abstract

Campylobacter is one of the most frequently diagnosed bacterial causes of human gastroenteritis in Japan and throughout the world. Resistance to quinolones in Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli isolated from humans has emerged in many countries during the past 15 years because fluoroquinolones are the drug of choice for the treatment of suspected bacterial gastroenteritis. Food contaminated with Campylobacter is the usual source of human infection; therefore, the presence of antimicrobial resistance strains in the food chain has raised concerns that the treatment of human infections will be compromised. The use of antimicrobial agents for food animals and in veterinary medicine is suspected to be correlated with an increase in quinolone-resistant strains of Campylobacter in food animals, especially in poultry products. In contrast to macrolide resistance in C. jejuni and C. coli isolated from humans showing a stable low rate, resistant Campylobacter spp. to quinolones have emerged in Japan. The paper summarizes food-borne Campylobacter infection in Japan, and the prevalence and trends of antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter from the authors’ data and other Japanese papers which reported the antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter.

Keywords:

• microbiology
• animal products
• veterinary drug residues – antibiotic resistance
• veterinary drug residues – fluoroquinolones
• animal products
• meat

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the staff of the Campylobacter Reference Center for their contribution to the surveillance of antibiotic resistance in Campylobacter spp. The work described in this paper was supported by grants from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (Research on Food Safety).