Chicken meat has been proposed to constitute a source for extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-carrying Enterobacteriaceae that colonize and infect humans. In this study the prevalence of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae in stool samples from ambulatory patients who presented in the emergency department of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf with gastrointestinal complains and in chicken meat samples from the Hamburg region were analysed and compared with respect to ESBL-genotypes, sequence types and antibiotic resistance profiles. Twenty-nine (4.1%) of 707 stool samples and 72 (60%) of 120 chicken meat samples were positive for ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. The distribution of ESBL genes in the stool vs. chicken meat isolates (given as % of total isolates from stool vs. chicken meat) was as follows: CTX-M-15 (38% vs. 0%), CTX-M-14 (17% vs. 6%), CTX-M-1 (17% vs. 69%), SHV-12 (3% vs. 18%) and TEM-52 (3% each). Comparison of ESBL- and multilocus sequence type revealed no correlation between isolates of human and chicken. Furthermore, ESBL-producing E. coli from stool samples were significantly more resistant to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides and/or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole than chicken isolates. The differences in ESBL-genotypes, sequence types and antibiotic resistance patterns indicate that in our clinical setting chicken meat is not a major contributor to human colonization with ESBL-carrying Enterobacteriaceae.
