Virulence and Antimicrobial-Resistant Gene Profiles of spp. Isolates from Chicken Carcasses Markets in Ibague City, Colombia.

spp. is one of the leading causes of foodborne bacterial infections, with major impacts on public health and healthcare system. is commonly transmitted via the fecal-to-oral route, and food contaminated with the bacteria (e.g., poultry products) is considered a common source of infection, being a potential risk for public health. The study aims to characterize the antimicrobial resistance- and virulence-associated genes in isolates recovered from chicken marketed carcasses ( = 20). The presence of 14 antimicrobial and 23 virulence genes was evaluated using end-point PCR. The antimicrobial genes were detected in the following proportion among the isolates: 100%, and 90% ( = 18), 75% ( = 15), and 50% ( = 10), 45% ( = 9), 20% ( = 4), and 15% ( = 3). , , , and genes were absent in all isolates. Regarding virulence-associated genes, all strains contain , , , , , and . The gene was present in 95% ( = 19) of isolates, whereas and were present in 55% ( = 11). Other virulence genes such as , , , and were present in 90% ( = 18) of strains. The presence of antimicrobial and virulence genes in several strains in chicken meat suggests the potential pathogenicity of the strains, which is relevant given the possibility of cross-contamination which represents a significant threat to public health.