Sampling Context Shapes Antimicrobial MIC Covariation in Chicken-Associated Commensal Bacteria from Central Transdanubia, Hungary

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in poultry has One Health relevance because resistant bacteria and resistance determinants may create opportunities for foodborne transmission, occupational exposure and environmental dissemination, while surveillance signals can also be distorted by sampling context. Methods: We investigated 210 chicken-associated isolates from Central Transdanubia, Hungary: 68 Escherichia coli, 101 Enterococcus spp. and 41 Staphylococcus spp. A six-agent core supported 45 within-group pairwise comparisons. Pooled Spearman coefficients were compared with correlations of MIC ranks residualized against locality-by-specimen strata using 9999 permutations and Benjamini–Hochberg adjustment. Results: Seventeen pooled associations met q < 0.05; six context-conditioned associations remained, all in enterococci (ρ = 0.264–0.360), and two also passed Holm correction. The staphylococcal doxycycline–florfenicol coefficient decreased from 0.551 to 0.017. As a secondary data-quality component, 20 identifier-linked E. coli assemblies were audited; 13 triggered at least one structural quality-review flag, and phenotype–annotation discrepancies were identified. Conclusions: Sampling context materially affected apparent MIC networks. Poultry-derived AMR signals should therefore be interpreted with epidemiological provenance before inferring emergence, maintenance or transmission across animal–human–environment interfaces. Integrated One Health surveillance should combine harmonized veterinary, food, environmental and public-health data with exposure metadata and genomic quality control; this study did not directly test cross-sector transmission.