Antimicrobial resistance and genetic characterisation of Salmonella enterica from retail poultry meats in Benin City, Nigeria

Salmonellosis is a frontrunner in food-borne diseases with emerging public health concerns. This study aimed to characterise the virulence and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of Salmonella enterica recovered from poultry meat within Benin City, Nigeria. Of the 250 poultry meat samples, 103/250(41.2%) were positive for Salmonella species. Of the 185 Salmonella strains screened for Salmonella enterica, 85/185(45.9%) were confirmed via po-lymerase chain reaction (PCR) to include: 16/85(18.8%) Salmonella Enteritidis, 9/85(10.6%) Salmonella Typhimurium, 39/85(45.9%) Salmonella Infantis, 21/85(24.7%) other Salmonella enterica serovars. All Salmo-nella serovars harboured >= 1 and <= 10 virulence genes from the virulence genes screened. Biofilm profiles showed 22(25.9%) and 20(23.5%) as strong and moderate biofilm formers. All Salmonella serovars were resistant to >= 1 and <= 13 antibiotics. The multiple-antibiotic resistance index ranged from 0.05 to 0.59, while 32(37.7%) were multidrug-resistant. Genotypic resistance profile screened includes: sulI 19/85(22.4%), sulII 18/85(21.2%), floR 22/85(25.9%), blaCTX 9/85(10.6%), blaTEM8/85(9.4%), and strA 3/85(3.5%). Findings from this study provide updated information on AMR for food safety risk assessment of Salmonella serovars from retailed chicken in Nigeria. This underscores the initialisation step for implementing and developing the Nigeria Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) National Action Plan, which will greatly assist in future surveillance to guarantee the micro-biological safety of chicken supply.