Objective.

To establish the prevalence, diversity and antimicrobial resistance of the zoonotic species of Arcobacter in healthy pigs at slaughterhouse level.

Material and methods.

Fifty fecal samples were taken by rectal swabs from healthy pigs, before the beginning of the slaughter at the slaughterhouse of Loja city, Southern Ecuador. Sampling was done by means of a non-probabilistic method for convenience. Isolation of Arcobacter strains was done by microbiological methods and species identification using biochemical and molecular (multiplex PCR) tests. Antimicrobial behavior was performed using the disk diffusion method.

Results.

The four zoonotic species of Arcobacter were found. The isolation rates were A. thereius (18.0%), A. skirrowii (18.0%), A. cryaerophilus (6.0%) and A. butzleri (2.0%). High resistance to ciprofloxacin was found and multi-resistant strains were isolated from these four species.

Conclusions.

The fecal carriage of the zoonotic species of Arcobacter was demonstrated in pigs at slaughterhouse level. These species showed high resistance to ciprofloxacin being isolated muti-resistant strains among these four species.

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