Campylobacter coli in Organic and Conventional Pig Production in France and Sweden: Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate and compare the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter coli in conventional and organic pigs from France and Sweden. Fecal or colon samples were collected at farms or at slaughterhouses and cultured for Campylobacter. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, streptomycin, tetracycline, erythromycin, and gentamicin were determined by microdilution for a total of 263 French strains from 114 pigs from 50 different farms and 82 Swedish strains from 144 pigs from 54 different farms. Erythromycin resistant isolates were examined for presence of the emerging rRNA methylase erm(B) gene. The study showed that within the colon samples obtained in each country there was no significant difference in prevalence of Campylobacter between pigs in organic and conventional productions [France: conventional: 43/58 (74%); organic: 43/56 (77%) and Sweden: conventional: 24/36 (67%); organic: 20/36 (56%)]. In France, but not in Sweden, significant differences of percentages of resistant isolates were associated with production type (tetracycline, erythromycin) and the number of resistances was significantly higher for isolates from conventional pigs. In Sweden, the number of resistances of fecal isolates was significantly higher compared to colon isolates. The erm(B) gene was not detected in the 87 erythromycin resistant strains tested

Antibiotic Resistance in Escherichia coli from Pigs in Organic and Conventional Farming in Four European Countries

Organic pig production differs in many ways from conventional production of pigs, e.g., in antibiotic use, herd structure, feeding regimes, access to outdoor areas and space allowance per pig. This study investigated if these differences result in a lower occurrence of antibiotic resistance in organic slaughter pigs in Denmark, France, Italy and Sweden. Samples were taken from the colon content and/or faeces and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of ten antibiotics were determined in isolates of Escherichia coli. In addition, the proportion of tetracycline (TET) resistant E. coli in colon content and/or faeces from individual pigs was determined. In all four countries the percentage resistance to ampicillin, streptomycin, sulphonamides or trimethoprim was significantly lower in E. coli from organic pigs. In France and Italy, the percentage of isolates resistant to chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid or gentamicin was also significantly lower in the E. coli from organic pigs. Resistance to cefotaxime, was not found in any country. The percentage of E. coli isolates resistant to TET as well as the proportion of TET-resistant E. coli was significantly lower in organic than in conventional pigs, except in Sweden where TET-resistance was equally low in both production types. There were also differences between countries within production type in the percentage resistance to individual antibiotics as well as the proportion of TET-resistant E. coli with lower median proportions in Sweden and Denmark compared to France and Italy. The study shows that in each of the four countries resistance in intestinal E. coli was less common in organic than in conventional pigs, but that there were also large differences in resistance between countries within each production type, indicating that both country- and production-specific factors influence the occurrence of resistance

Charakterizace složení mikroflóry a zastoupení genů antibiotické rezistence ve výkalech prasat z organických a konvenčních farem čtyř zemí Evropské unie

One of the recent trends in animal production is the re-appearance of organic farming. The interest of wide public in organic farming is affected by interest in animal welfare and lower use of antibiotics in organic than in conventional farming systems. On the other hand, the ambition to provide the animals with a more natural life implies their increased exposure to environmental sources of different microorganisms including pathogens. To address these concerns, we determined the abundance of antibiotic resistance and diversity in fecal microbiota in slaughtered pigs kept under conventional and organic farming systems in Sweden, Denmark, France and Italy. Abundance of sul1, sul2, strA, tet(A), tet(B) and cat antibiotic resistance genes was determined by real time PCR genes in 468 samples and the faecal microbiota diversity was characterised in selected 48 samples by pyrosequencing of V3/V4 regions of 16S rRNA. Unlike expectation, there were no significant differences between the abundance of tested antibiotic resistance genes in microbiota of organic and conventional pigs within the same country. There were also no differences in microbiota composition of organic and conventional pigs. The only significant difference was the difference in the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in the samples from different countries. Fecal microbiota in the samples originating from southern countries (Italy, France) exhibited significantly higher antibiotic resistance gene abundance than those from northern parts of Europe (Denmark, Sweden). Concerning the antibiotic resistance in fecal microbiota, the effect of geographic location of a herd therefore dominates over its organic or conventional production system status.Jedním z nedávných trendů ve zvířecí produkci je znovuobjevení organického hospodářství. Zájem veřejnosti budí predevším lepší prostřední pro zvířata a méně používaná antibiotika. V této práci se zabýváme analýzou genů antibiotické rezistence ve střevní miktoflóře prasat, jak z organických, tak konvenčních farem

Frequency of resistance (percent) to selected antibiotics in <i>Escherichia coli</i> from slaughter pigs in Denmark, France, Italy and Sweden and univariable association between conventional (Con) vs. organic (Org) herds.

<p>Univariate odds ratios (OR), 95% confidence interval for OR (95% CI) and p-values for the association. n = number of isolates, nd = not done. Interpretive criteria for MICs (ECOFF) separating wild-type from non-wild type isolates are indicated (mg/L).</p

Overview of sampling of pigs from conventional (Con) and organic (Org) herds in abattoirs and/or herds in each country.

<p>Overview of sampling of pigs from conventional (Con) and organic (Org) herds in abattoirs and/or herds in each country.</p

PCA clustering based on the antibiotic resistance gene abundance.

<p>Each spot represents an individual sample tested in this study and clustered according to the abundance of 6 antibiotic resistance genes. Factor 1, accounting for nearly 58% of the variation negatively correlated with abundance of <i>strA</i>, <i>sul1</i>, <i>sul2</i>, <i>tet(A)</i> and <i>tet(B)</i> (correlation coefficients ranged from -0.84 to -0.76). Orange—samples from Italian farms, red—samples from French farms, blue—samples from Danish farms, green—samples from Swedish farms. Opened symbols–samples from pigs kept in conventional farms. Closed symbols–samples from pigs kept in organic farms.</p

Composition of fecal microbiota of conventional and organic pigs in four countries at family level.

<p>Each color represents a particular bacterial family and the following numbers refer to the defined color codes. 1 –<i>Veillonellaceae</i>, 2—unclassified <i>Clostridiales</i>, 3—unclassified <i>Bacteroidales</i>, 4 –<i>Streptococcaceae</i>, 5 –<i>Ruminococcaceae</i>, 6 –<i>Moraxellaceae</i>, 7 –<i>Rikenellaceae</i>, 8 –<i>Prevotellaceae</i>, 9 –<i>Porphyromonadaceae</i>, 10 –<i>Peptostreptococcaceae</i>, 11 –<i>Lachnospiraceae</i>, 12 –<i>Hydrogenophylaceae</i>, 13 –<i>Lactobacillaceae</i>, 14 –<i>Erysipelotrichaceae</i>, 15—<i>Clostridiaceae</i> incertae sedis, 16 –<i>Clostridiaceae</i>, 17 –<i>Acidaminococcaceae</i>. IT–Italy, FR–France, DNK–Denmark, SWE–Sweden. Org–samples from organic farms, Con–samples from conventional farms. Sample 1–5 for each country and production system represent samples taken from 5 randomly selected pigs. The sixth samples (“P”) always represent pooled samples from particular country and production system.</p