Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is a foodborne bacterial infection that is of global concern and responsible for 90% of campylobacter-associated diarrheal diseases in humans. To date, there is no data on the prevalence of C. jejuni in poultry meat in Yemen. This study is the first one that aimed to molecularly detect and determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of C. jejuni isolates from poultry meat in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. Three hundred and thirty samples of poultry meat (180 local and 150 imported) were collected from various fresh poultry shops and slaughterhouses in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, during the period from 2023 to 2024. C. jejuni isolates were identified using phenotypic methods and confirmed using molecular techniques, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sequence alignment, and phylogenetic analysis. The Kirby-Bauer method was used to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of the isolates. The overall rate of C. jejuni was detected in 40/330 (12.12%) poultry meat samples, 38/180 (21.1%) local meat, and 2/150 (1.3%) imported meat (P = 0.003; Odds Ratio (OR) = 6.57). From local meat, 18 (10%) isolates were recovered from intestinal samples, and only two were recovered from skin samples (1.3%) of the imported meat. The prevalence of C. jejuni peaked in the autumn (12, 3.7%; OR = 1.92). All C. jejuni isolates were completely resistant to macrolide antibiotics and clindamycin and highly resistant to aminoglycosides. In addition, the sensitivity of C. jejuni isolates was reported to be 100% for ampicillin and chloramphenicol and 90.0% for ciprofloxacin. All C. jejuni isolates exhibited multidrug resistance, with the majority being resistant to five antibiotics (60%). These findings revealed that multi-antibiotic-resistant C. jejuni was recovered from poultry meat, particularly local meat. Consequently, it is imperative to establish policies that will mitigate the transmission of animal diseases, restrict the use of antibiotics in poultry farming, provide slaughterhouse employees with training on the proper handling of meat, and enforce strict standards for meat imports.
Data availability
The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The 16 S rRNA gene sequences have been deposited in GenBank under the accession numbers PV263606.1, PV263587.1, and PX392582.1.
Abbreviations
- bp:
-
Base Pair
- EUCAST:
-
European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing
- CFU:
-
Colony Forming Unit
- ISO:
-
International Organization for Standardization
- MDR:
-
Multidrug Resistance
- MH-F:
-
Mueller-Hinton Fastidious Agar
- NCBI:
-
National Center for Biotechnology Information
- OR:
-
Odds Ratio
- P value:
-
Probability value < 0.05 (significant)
- PCR:
-
Polymerase Chain Reaction
- rRNA:
-
Ribosomal ribonucleic acid
- SPSS:
-
Statistical Package for Social Sciences
- χ2 :
-
Chi square
- 95% CI:
-
95% Confidence Interval
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Al-Bana M : collected data and samples, conducted the experiments, processed the data, interpreted the data, and wrote the original draft. Alghalibi S : conceived the study, supervised it, interpreted the findings, and reviewed and edited the manuscript. Abdullah Q : assisted in study design and supervision, interpreted the findings, and reviewed the manuscript. Edrees W : assisted in processing and analyzing the data, interpreted the data, wrote the original draft, and edited the manuscript. Al-Shehari W : Contributed to data analysis and interpretation and reviewed and edited the manuscript. Jaml N : Assisted in conducting the molecular experiments and processed and interpreted the data. Al-Arnoot S : Contributed to processing the data, analyzing and interpreting it, and writing the original draft. Al-Thobhani A : assisted in conducting the experiments, collected and analyzed data, and interpreted the findings. Al-Akhali B : contributed to collecting samples and conducted the experiments. All authors reviewed the manuscript and approved the submitted version.
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This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Deanship of Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, Sana’a University, No. (92), and dated (10/10/2022). Postmortem poultry meat samples were used, and this study did not include any experiments on live poultry or interventions in the natural environment. Verbal consent was obtained from the vendors while maintaining the confidentiality of the data and sources of the samples and not disclosing any information related to the vendors’ identities. Furthermore, local poultry meat samples were collected from retail slaughterhouses, while imported poultry meat samples were collected from supermarkets. Additionally, all biosafety and environmental protection guidelines were adhered to during sample collection, transportation, and analysis, in accordance with25.
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Al-Bana, M.N., Alghalibi, S.M., Abdullah, Q.Y. et al. First molecular characterization and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from poultry meat in Yemen. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-43066-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-43066-x