The Persistence of Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Campylobacter in Poultry Production Lance B. Price,1,2 Leila G. Lackey,2 Rocio Vailes,2 and Ellen Silbergeld2 1The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; 2The Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA Abstract Background: The use of antibiotics in food animal production has been associated with antibiotic-resistant infections in humans. In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned fluoroquinolone use in U.S. poultry production in order to reduce the prevalence of fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter. Little is known about the potential efficacy of this policy. Objectives: Our primary objective was to follow temporal changes in the prevalence of fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter among poultry products from two conventional producers who announced their cessation of fluoroquinolone use in 2002 (3 years before the FDA's ban) . Our secondary objective was to compare, over time, the prevalence of fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter in conventional poultry products to those from producers who claim to use no antibiotics. Methods: We collected poultry samples from two conventional producers and three antibiotic-free producers over the course of 20 weeks in 2004 (n = 198) and 15 weeks in 2006 (n = 210) . We compared the rates of fluoroquinolone resistance among Campylobacter isolates from the different producers. Results: We found no significant change in the proportion of fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter isolates from the two conventional producers over the study period. In addition, Campylobacterstrains from the two conventional producers were significantly more likely to be fluoroquinolone resistant than those from the antibiotic-free producers. Conclusions: The results from this study indicate that fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter may be persistent contaminants of poultry products even after on-farm fluoroquinolone use has ceased. The FDA's ban on fluoroquinolones in poultry production may be insufficient to reduce resistant Campylobacter in poultry products. Key words: antibiotic, antimicrobial, Campylobacter, chickens, ciprofloxacin, fluoroquinolones, food microbiology, poultry, resistance, veterinary. Environ Health Perspect 115:1035–1039 (2007) . doi:10.1289/ehp.10050 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 19 March 2007] Address correspondence to L.B. Price, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Ave., B-3-North, Baltimore, MD 21224-2780 USA. Telephone: (410) 550-9080. Fax: (410) 550-1169. E-mail: lprice@jhsph.edu We thank K. Brooks and P. Baker for their assistance in sample processing. This work was funded by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 3 January 2007 ; accepted 19 March 2007. The full version of this article is available for free in HTML or PDF formats. |