Antimicrobial Resistance in Campylobacter spp

Microbiol Spectr. 2018 Apr;6(2). doi: 10.1128/microbiolspec.ARBA-0013-2017.

Abstract

Campylobacter is a major foodborne pathogen and has become increasingly resistant to clinically important antimicrobials. To cope with the selection pressure from antimicrobial use in both veterinary and human medicine, Campylobacter has developed multiple mechanisms for antibiotic resistance, including modification or mutation of antimicrobial targets, modification or inactivation of antibiotics, and reduced drug accumulation by drug efflux pumps. Some of these mechanisms confer resistance to a specific class of antimicrobials, while others give rise to multidrug resistance. Notably, new antibiotic resistance mechanisms continuously emerge in Campylobacter, and some examples include the recently discovered multidrug resistance genomic islands harboring multiple genes involved in the resistance to aminoglycosides and macrolides, a novel Cfr(C) conferring resistance to phenicols and other drugs, and a potent multidrug efflux pump CmeABC variant (RE-CmeABC) that shows a significantly enhanced function in multidrug resistance and is associated with exceedingly high-level resistance to fluoroquinolones. These newly emerged resistance mechanisms are horizontally transferable and greatly facilitate the adaptation of Campylobacter in the food-producing environments where antibiotics are frequently used. In this article, we will discuss how Campylobacter resists the action of various classes of antimicrobials, with an emphasis on newly discovered mechanisms.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / classification
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Campylobacter / drug effects*
  • Campylobacter / genetics
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial / genetics
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial / physiology*
  • Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial / genetics
  • Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial / physiology
  • Gene Transfer, Horizontal
  • Genomic Islands
  • Humans
  • Membrane Transport Proteins
  • Mutation

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Membrane Transport Proteins