Assessment of phenotypic carbapenem susceptibility and genomic epidemiology of Campylobacter from animal, food and human domains – CarbaCamp

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is still emerging and increasingly threatens our possibilities for effectively treating human and animal disease. In 2023 the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) reported high rates of ertapenem non-susceptible Campylobacter from food animals. EU monitoring data has also shown possible different wild-type distributions between C. jejuni and C. coli, as well as in between different animal types of the same species. The collaborative project, CarbaCamp will provide a European overview of the wild-type distributions among animals and humans to carbapenems in Campylobacter, including the determination of ECOFF values. It will also attempt to elucidate the genetic diversity of carbapenem non-susceptible Campylobacter in Europe and potential conferring resistance mechanism(s), to provide preliminary indications regarding whether the emergence is due to vertical transmission or selection.