Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profiles of Thermophilic Campylobacter Species from Human, Pig, and Chicken Feces in Rwanda

Noel Gahamanyi^1,2*MUSANA Habimana Arsene¹Jean Paul Harerimana¹Josiane Mukayisenga¹Salomon Ntwali¹Anathalie Umuhoza³Emmanuel NSENGIYUMVA³Emmanuel Irimaso⁴Shimirwa Jean Bosco¹Cheol-Ho Pan⁵ERICK KOMBA⁶Raghavendra G Amachawadi⁷Mambo Claude Muvunyi²Nadine Rujeni³

• ¹College of Science and Technology, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
• ²Rwanda Biomedical Center, Kigali, Rwanda
• ³College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
• ⁴College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Rwanda, Nyagatare, Rwanda
• ⁵Gangneung Institute of Natural Products, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Gangneung, Gangwon, Republic of Korea
• ⁶Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
• ⁷Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, United States

Globally, Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli have been associated with human gastroenteritis. More importantly, there are increasing reports of Campylobacter strains that are resistant to commonly used antimicrobials. In Rwanda, the prevalence and the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of thermophilic Campylobacter strains remain underexplored. Since human campylobacteriosis is a foodborne disease with chicken and pigs being among their major reservoirs, this study aimed to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of thermophilic Campylobacter species from human, chicken, and pig feces in Rwanda. A total of 385, 337, and 359 human, pig and chicken feces, respectively, were investigated for the presence of Campylobacter species. Isolation was done by culture and presumptive colonies were confirmed by the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method was employed to determine the susceptibility profiles of obtained isolates against six (06) antimicrobials, namely erythromycin (ERY), ciprofloxacin (CIP), streptomycin (STR), gentamicin (GEN), tetracycline (TET), and chloramphenicol (CHL). The used antimicrobials include drugs of choice or alternative treatment for human campylobacteriosis. The overall prevalence of thermophilic Campylobacter was 7.0% (27/385) in humans, 7.1% (24/337) in pigs, and 32.0% (115/359) in chicken. C. jejuni was the predominant species in all hosts with detection frequencies of 92.6%, 66.7%, and 73.9% in humans, pigs, and poultry, respectively. IAncreased higher resistance rates to ERY (70.1-92.4%) and STR (68.2-88.0%) wereas observed particularly among chicken isolates. Multi-drug resistance (MDR) was observed among the isolates, with the highest rates observed in chicken isolates (88.0%). Proportions of MDR among pig (40.9%) and human (40.7%) isolates were more or less similar. These findings highlight the presence ofan increased prevalence of thermophilic thermophilic Campylobacter strains in humans as well asand in livestock , especially in chicken.. More importantly, the circulating Campylobacter strains werewhich are resistant to commonly used antimicrobials and some were MDR. Based on the potential of interspecies transmission, it is recommended to adopt a One Health approach to curb antimicrobial resistance. Further genomic analysis will shed more light on the transmission and drug resistance patterns.