Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Arcobacter butzleri and Arcobacter cryaerophilus isolates from retail meat in Lower Silesia region, Poland

Arcobacter butzleri and A. cryaerophilus are considered potential foodborne pathogens. Consumption of Arcobacter-contaminated food is regarded the most likely source of human poisoning. We investigated the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Arcobacter isolates in 210 retail meat samples. Seventy-nine A. butzleri and 6 A. cryaerophilus were isolated from pork, beef and chicken meat. Incidence of A. butzleri was found to be the highest in chicken meat (83%). Less of A. butzleri was isolated from beef (16%) and pork (14%). Most of the A. butzleri isolates were resistant to ß-lactams, like ampicillin (85%), amoxicillin with clavulonic acid (63%), cefotaxime (66%) and mac-rolides, i.e., erythromycin (62%). In contrast, all except one A. cryaerophilus isolates were susceptible to erythromycin. Tetracycline and aminoglycosides showed the highest efficacy against A. butzleri and A. cryaerophilus since almost 80% of their population was susceptible to these agents. All, except one A. cryaerophilus and the majority of A. butzleri isolates (70%) were susceptible to fluoroquinolones. The incidence of multiresistant isolates was found in forty two (53%) A. butzleri, and one (16%) A. cryaerophilus isolates. Eight A. butzleri isolates were resistant to all antimicrobials tested. These results indicate significant incidence of potential foodborne zoonotic agents, i.e. A. butzleri and A. cryaerophilus including multiresistant isolates in retail meat in Poland

Pulse Disturbance Impacts from a Rare Freeze Event in Tampa, Florida on the Exotic Invasive Cuban Treefrog, \u3cem\u3eOsteopilus Septentrionalis\u3c/em\u3e, and Native Treefrogs

This study documented exotic invasive Osteopilus septentrionalis and native treefrog use of artificial refugia in Tampa, Florida, USA, spanning approximately 3 years, with sampling from 1 year before and after (August 2008–November 2011) a record low temperature of −4 °C on January 11, 2010. Six pipes were inserted into the ground along the upland ecotone of 15 cypress domes located along a gradient of urban land use. Over 1000 treefrogs observations were made, with O. septentrionalis representing \u3e 70 % of total counts. Treefrog captures peaked in January–February 2009 and were temporally auto-correlated per site. O. septentrionalis counts declined following each freeze, and a fitted smoothing function for month indicated declines were cumulative, with a significant minimum in counts during the last freeze in February 2011. A concurrent seasonal peak in native treefrog counts led to a temporary loss of O. septentrionalis dominance from January to March 2011. Temperatures of −4 °C were sufficient to cause mortality of O. septentrionalis in PVC refugia; however, after autocorrelation was addressed no significant trend in native treefrogs was observed during the study. Multiseason occupancy models indicated probability of extinction for O. septentrionalis between freeze events did not differ significantly from native treefrogs, whereas a high probability of colonization between freeze events indicated O. septentrionalis may be resilient even to rare freezes. Trends in O. septentrionalis presence were not significant, and it was captured at 14/15 sites following the third freeze event, suggesting extirpation from freezing temperature may be unlikely for O. septentrionalis