Salmonella is considered one of the leading causes for foodborne diseases in humans. Pork and its products contaminated with Salmonella are increasingly recognized as an important source of human salmonellosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial resistance and prevalence of integrons in Salmonella isolates from pig farms. In total, 92 of 724 (12.7%) samples were Salmonella-positive, including 64 (15.0%) from fecal samples, 27 (12.6%) from floor samples, 1 (4.5%) from water samples, and 0 from feed and air samples. These isolates showed the highest resistance to tetracycline (85.9%), followed by trimethoprim (67.4%), ampicillin (60.9%), and chloramphenicol (51.1%). In addition, 51 isolates carried the complete class 1 integron, most of which (42/51) harbored antibiotic resistance cassettes. A total of six gene cassettes including orfF, est-X, dfrA1+aadA1, aadA1, dfrA12+aadA2, and sat were identified, in which the most prevalent one was orfF (29.4%). Furthermore, all 19 class 1 integron-positive isolates harboring dfr genes showed resistance to trimethoprim (SXT), suggesting that the trimethoprim resistance gene (dfr) may contribute to the emergence of SXT resistance phenotype. Therefore, considering the significance of integrons and related resistance genes for public health, special measures should be taken to control Salmonella spp. on the pig farms and to prevent spread of integrons and associated resistance genes.
Keywords: Salmonella; antimicrobial resistance; integron; pig farms; resistance cassettes.