in sheep, goat, and camel raw meat: virulence and antibiotic resistance pattern.

genus belongs to a group of Gram-negative coccobacillus. These bacteria are isolated from human and animal origins. Antimicrobial agents play a vital role in treating infectious diseases in both humans and animals, and in this regard is defined as an organism of low virulence. The current study aimed to evaluate antibiotic resistance properties and virulence factor genes in strains isolated from raw animal meat samples. Fresh meat samples from 124 sheep, 162 goat, and 95 camels were randomly collected from Isfahan and Shahrekord cities in Iran. Most strains isolated from sheep meat samples represented (82.35%), (78.43%), (78.43%) and Integron Class I (96.07%) genes. Moreover, more than 50% of strains isolated from sheep samples were resistant to streptomycin (54.90%), gentamycin (74.50%), co-trimoxazole (70.58%), tetracycline (82.35%), and trimethoprim (62.74%). Current findings revealed significant association between the presence of , , genes in sheep samples. Furthermore, significant association was observed between and genes in goat meat samples. In sheep meat samples, significant differences were identified in resistance to gentamicin, tetracycline, and co-trimoxazole in comparison with other antibiotics. Finally, there were statistically significant differences between the incidences of resistance to gentamicin, tetracycline, and co-trimoxazole in comparison with other antibiotics in all strains. In conclusion, the presence of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance in strains isolated from animal meat samples showed that animals should be considered as a potential reservoir of multidrug-resistant .