26.02.2016

Eurosurveillance, Vo 21, Issue 8, 25 February 2016

The live chicken population in Tunisia is heavily colonised by mcr-1-positive E. coli with subsequent possible contamination of chicken productsץ High prevalence of MCR-1 and CTX-M-1-producing Escherichia coli in three Tunisian chicken farms. Chickens were imported from France or derived from French imported chicks. The same IncHI2-type plasmid reported to carry those genes in cattle in France and in a food sample in Portugal was found in Tunisian chickens of French origin. This suggests a significant impact of food animal trade on the spread of mcr-1-mediated colistin resistance in Europe.