Antibiotic resistance profiles of Salmonella serovars isolated from retail pork and chicken meat in North Vietnam

The spread of antibiotic resistance via meat poses a serious public health concerns. During 2007–2009, a total of 586 retail meat samples (318 pork and 268 chicken meats) were collected from three provinces (Bac Ninh, Ha Noi and Ha Tay) of North Vietnam to determine the prevalence of Salmonella. Isolates were characterized by serotyping and antibiotic susceptibility testing. Approximately 39.6% (n = 126) of pork and 42.9% (n = 115) of chicken samples were Salmonella-positive, and 14 Salmonella serovars were identified. Anatum (15.8%) was the most common serovar, followed by Infantis (13.3%), Emek (10.4%), Derby and Rissen (9.5%), Typhimurium (9.1%), Reading (7.5%) and London (6.2%). The isolation frequency of serovars Enteritidis, Albany, Hadar, Weltevreden, Newport and Blockey ranged from 1.2%–5.8%. Resistance to at least one antibiotic agent was detected in 78.4% of isolates (n = 189) and the most frequent resistance were to tetracycline (58.5%), sulphonamides (58.1%), streptomycin (47.3%), ampicillin (39.8%), chloramphenicol (37.3%), trimethoprim (34.0%) and nalidixic acid (27.8%). No Salmonella isolates were resistant to ceftazidime. Chicken isolates had higher resistance to antibiotic agents than pork isolates (P < 0.05). It showed that 159 Salmonella isolates belong to the 14 serovars were multidrug resistant (MDR) and 50 MDR patterns were found. This study indicated that Salmonella serovars isolated from retail meat samples were resistant to multiple antibiotics and this resistance was widespread among different serovars. The widespread resistance may have arisen from misuse or overuse of antibiotics during animal husbandry in North Vietnam.