Purpose: In Costa Rica, as well as in other countries, its isolation has been reported, so the objective of this project was to evaluate and identify the presence of Arcobacter in chicken visceras sold in the Metropolitan Area of San José, Costa Rica, as well as to determine the antimicrobial resistance patterns associated to it.
Methods: 150 samples of chicken viscera were purchased from various local retailers. De Boer and Houf broths were used as enrichment media, isolation was done using Arcobacter selective medium and membrane filtration using blood agar. Typical colonies were identified using a genus-specific PCR reaction and species identification was made using the multiplex polymerase chain reaction (m-PCR) proposed by Douida et al. Susceptibility to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, gentamicin and tetracycline was done using E test method.
Results: The isolation frequency of Arcobacter genus obtained in this study was of 17.3%. A total of 33 isolates were obtained from the poultry samples, and according to the multiplex PCR methodology, 22 isolates were identified as A. butzleri (66.7%), 8 as A. cryoaerophilus (24.2%) and 1 as A. skirrowii (3.1%). Two strains were not identified. Resistance towards chloranphenicol was of 87.5%, followed by ampicillin (43.75%) and ciprofloxacine (18.75%); all strains were susceptible to tetracycline.
Significance: The potential health risk associated with the presence of Arcobacter sp. in chicken viscera products sold in Costa Rica is demonstrated.