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P1-199 Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella spp. from Flies of Cattle Source

Monday, July 10, 2017
Exhibit Hall (Tampa Convention Center)
Yumin Xu , University of Georgia , Griffin , GA
Sha Tao , University of Georgia , Tifton , GA
Mark Harrison , University of Georgia , Athens , GA
Jinru Chen , University of Georgia, Department of Food Science and Technology , Griffin , GA
Introduction: Mostly, human salmonellosis is caused by consuming foods that originated from animals that are reservoirs of Salmonella spp., such as cattle. Flies can be transmitters of Salmonella spp. from cattle to humans. Antibiotic resistant Salmonella from cattle, due to extensive use of antibiotics on cattle farm, can be potentially disseminated to humans by flies. Integrons are considered a critical source of antibiotic resistance genes that can be widely spread by horizontal gene transfer to aggravate the antibiotic resistant issue of Salmonella.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of Salmonella in flies captured from cattle farms and to screen for the presence of integrons among isolated Salmonella spp. strains.

Methods: Flies (50 from each farm) were captured using fly tapes on 33 cattle farms interspersed throughout Georgia, U.S.A., from June 2016 to September 2016. Salmonella were isolated from the internal surface and external tissue of the flies following a method outlined in FDA Bacteriological Analytical Manual with slight modification. Presence of integrons among isolated Salmonella spp. strains were screened using PCR with primers derived from the integrase gene.

Results: Salmonella spp. were isolated from 26 out of 33 cattle farms, where 185 out of 1,650 flies (11.2%) were found Salmonella-positive. The incidence of Salmonella-positive flies varied from farm to farm, ranging from 0% to 78%. The top three incidences were 78%, 52%, and 30%. Integron positive Salmonella were found in 3 out of 33 sampled farms (9.1%).

Significance: These data suggest that flies are active carriers of Salmonella on cattle farms. However, the incidence of Salmonella-positive flies varied depending on herd size, environmental hygiene, and farm management. Antibiotic resistance genes were not commonly found in the Salmonella isolated from the cattle farms in Georgia.
Back to: Poster Session 1 – Viruses and Parasites, Beverages and Acid/Acidified Foods, Preharvest Food Safety, General Microbiology, Food Defense, Food Law and Regulation, Food Safety Systems, Food Processing Technologies, Modeling and Risk Assessment, Sanitation and Hygiene, and Antimicrobials
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