A meta-analytic perspective on Arcobacter spp. antibiotic resistance

Objectives: Over the years, an increased prevalence of resistant strains of Arcobacter has been observed, which may be due to Arcobacter exposure to antibiotics used both in animal production and human medicine. A systematic review was performed with the objective of summarising the results of the rates of antimicrobial resistance of Arcobacter isolates. Methods: The systematic review was performed according to PRISMA (Preferred Reported Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) recommendations, followed by meta-analysis. Results: It was observed that the resistance rate ranged between 69.3-99.2% for penicillins and 30.5-97.4% for cephalosporins. The overall percentage of resistance to fluoroquinolones ranged from 4.3% to 14.0%, with the highest resistance percentage observed for levofloxacin. Resistance rates ranged between 10.7-39.8% for macrolides, 1.8-12.9% for aminoglycosides and 0.8-7.1% for tetracyclines. Conclusions: These results show that Arcobacter spp. present resistance to various antibiotics commonly used and advocate further studies of the associated resistance mechanisms.Highlights: First systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating resistance rates of Arcobacter spp; High resistance to β-lactams and low of resistance to aminoglycosides observed; Arcobacter spp. differ in rates of antimicrobial resistance.SF was supported by a fellowship [SFRH/BPD/101959/2014] from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) and co-financed by Fundo Social Europeu. AL acknowledges the postdoctoral research fellowship within the scope of the protocol signed between Universidade da Beira Interior and Bank Santander-Totta [reference BIPD/ICI-FC-BST-UBI 2016]. This work was supported by FEDER funds through the POCI – COMPETE 2020 – Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization in Axis I –Strengthening research, technological development, and innovation [project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007491] and national funds by FCT [project UID/Multi/00709/2013]