Abstract
Drug resistant Escherichia coli persist in the intestinal flora of poultry birds, and these serve as route via which they can be transmitted directly to humans, thus contributing to the already growing crisis of antibiotic resistance. The purpose of this study was to determine the cloacal feacal carriage and occurrence of antibiotic resistant E. coli isolates from chicken fed with and without antibiotic supplemented feeds. Cloacal feacal swabs (n = 200) were aseptically obtained from two poultry farms in Abakaliki metropolis, Ebonyi state of Nigeria, and these were inoculated on MacConkey and cystine-lactose-electrolyte-deficient (CLED) media and incubated at 37°C for 18 to 24 h. Suspected colonies of E. coli growing on the agar media were subcultured, purified and further characterized using standard microbiology techniques. Antibiogram was investigated using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method as per the clinical laboratory standards institute (CLSI) criteria. A total of 45 E. coli was isolated from the 200 cloacal feacal swab samples used for this study. Overall, 28% of E. coli were isolated from chicken fed with feed supplemented with antibiotics while only 17% of E. coli was isolated from chicken that received feed without antibiotics supplements. All the E. coli isolates showed varying rates of resistance and susceptibility to the tested antibiotics. Our results strongly reveal the occurrence of antibiotic resistant E. coli from chicken fed with and without antibiotic supplemented feeds. It is very critical that the continuous use of antibiotics in poultry production be strictly monitored, controlled and discouraged in order to contain the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria through poultry production. Key words: Resistance, Escherichia coli, poultry, veterinary, Nigeria.
Highlights
The usage of antimicrobial agents including antibiotics for either clinical or non-clinical reasons is amongst the singular purpose there is for the growing global increase in the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance genes in pathogenic bacteria
This scenario allows for the selection of resistance strains of pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria including Escherichia coli and other bacteria exposed to the antibiotics in the intestinal flora of the birds, and such practices has the potential to increase the frequency of resistant bacteria in the poultry birds (Piddock, 1996; Al Ghamdi et al, 1999; Bisht et al, 2009)
Cloacal feacal samples from chicken fed with feeds supplemented with antibiotics showed a 14% carriage of E. coli in their feaces while chicken fed with feeds without any antibiotics supplements showed a total of 8.5% E. coli carriage in their feacal samples (Table 1)
Summary
The usage of antimicrobial agents including antibiotics for either clinical or non-clinical reasons is amongst the singular purpose there is for the growing global increase in the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance genes in pathogenic bacteria. Health controlling the population of bacteria, the antibiotics are used as growth promoters in the birds. This scenario allows for the selection of resistance strains of pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria including Escherichia coli and other bacteria exposed to the antibiotics in the intestinal flora of the birds, and such practices has the potential to increase the frequency of resistant bacteria in the poultry birds (Piddock, 1996; Al Ghamdi et al, 1999; Bisht et al, 2009). Though a natural phenomenon of bacterial genetics and evolution, antibiotic resistance builds up following every usage of antibiotics (whether rational or irrational) including the acquisition of resistance genes from other bacteria in the environment
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
