Pork meat as a potential source of Salmonella enterica subsp. arizonae infection in humans.

Salmonella enterica subsp. arizonae was isolated from 13 of 123 slaughtered pigs in central Greece. The samples cultured were feces, ileum tissue, mesenteric lymph nodes, and gallbladder swabs. A total of 74 isolates from 492 samples were identified as Salmonella spp. by use of standard laboratory culture media and two commercial micromethods and by use of a polyvalent slide agglutination test for the detection of O and H antigens. Among them were 19 (25.68%) suspected to be S. enterica subsp. arizonae according to analysis with standard laboratory culture media. Of those, 14 were identified as S. enterica subsp. arizonae by the API 20E (bioMérieux, France) and the Microgen GnA+B-ID (Microgen Bioproducts, Ltd., United Kingdom) identification systems. All the isolates were tested for resistance to 23 antimicrobials. Strains identified as S. enterica subsp. arizonae were resistant to 17 (70.8%) antibiotics. The highest proportions of resistance were observed for sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (71.4%), tetracycline (71.4%), ampicillin (64.3%), and amoxicillin (57.1%). Two isolates were resistant to aztreonam (7.1%) and tigecycline (7.1%), used only for the treatment of humans. Thus, pork meat may play a role in the transmission of antibiotic-resistant S. enterica subsp. arizonae to human consumers. This is the first report of S. enterica subsp. arizonae isolation from pigs.