Microbiological, Phenotypic Characteristics, Antimicrobial Resistance Profile and Molecular Identification of Acinetobacter species Isolated from Meat of Different Sources in Egypt

Although food is very important for the human life, it may be life threatening. Foodborne diseases are spreading worldwide through the increasing rate of fresh and undercooked food consumption. Foodborne pathogens include many types of bacterial species. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Acinetobacter species isolated from meat samples, as well as their phenotypic characteristics, antimicrobial resistance profiles; and genotypic characteristics. A total of 110 samples, collected from chickens (n=50), beef (n=44), rabbits (n=10), and mutton (n=6), were examined bacteriologically. The suspected colonies were identified biochemically and then tested for their antimicrobial resistance, biofilm formation, and hemolytic activity, Identification was confirmed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the genes; rpoB, tarT, fimH, and espA. Nine Acinetobacter species isolates (8.2%) were recovered. Fifty five samples resulted in the isolation of non-lactose fermenters with an incidence of 50%, 29 produced late lactose fermenters with an incidence of 26% while, the rest of samples showed no growth or non-lactose fermenters. On antibiogram, the isolates showed high resistance to ceftriaxone, imipenem, ceftazidime and ticarcillin/clavulanic acid in percentages of 89%, 77.8%, 66.7% and 66.7 %, respectively. While, low resistance was found to sulfamethazole/trimethoprim, doxycycline and amikacin in percentages of 44.4%, 33.3% and 11.1%, respectively. However, the isolates showed no resistance to ciprofloxacin. All the isolates were MDR with MDRindex (more than 0.5), only one isolate was weak biofilm producer but, no isolates produced hemolysis of the sheep RBCS. Genetically, 88.9% of the isolates expressed tarT and fimH genes while only 5.6% of the isolates expressed espA gene. It can be concluded that Acinetobacter species are to be considered when inspecting meat samples of different sources.