Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in Campylobacter spp.: A review of the literature

Abstract

Campylobacter spp. are commensal organisms in the intestinal tract of food producing and companion animals. There is an increasing trend of human campylobacteriosis worldwide, including complicated cases that request treatment by antibiotics. Prevalence of resistance continually increases, especially to fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines. There are many reports on multiresistant strains of Campylobacter spp. In this work we present the available information about the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter spp. worldwide, as well as studies from Serbia published in last two decades. Campylobacter strains isolated from animal samples in Serbia showed increased prevalence of antimicrobial resistance to all clinically relevant antibiotics. Preliminary data (2014-2019) from Reference laboratory for Campylobacter and Helicobacter at the Institute of Public Health of Niš, Serbia show high resistance rates to ciprofloxacin (90%) and to tetracycline (50%) but low resistance to erythromycin (<5%) in human Campylobacter isolates.

Keywords: Campylobacter coli; Campylobacter jejuni; Serbian; antibiotics; prevalence; resistance.