Multidrug Resistant Pasteurella multocida Strains Isolated from Chickens with Cases of Fowl Cholera in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

5 Abstract: Antibiotic resistance is often encountered despite multiple antibiotics being used for the treatment of fowl cholera in Jos. This study was conducted to determine the antibiotic resistant profile of Pasteurella multocida isolated from chickens in Jos. A total of 2000 samples consisting of bone marrow, heart, liver, lung and spleen (400 each) were collected from 400 clinically sick chickens between November, 2010 and October, 2011 for the isolation of P. multocida. Swab from each sample was cultured on 7% defibrinated sheep blood, MacConkey and casein sucrose yeast agar. Presumptive colonies of P. multocida were subjected to biochemical characterization. Isolates identified by biochemical tests were further subjected to Microbact GNB 24E test. Disk diffusion method was employed to test the sensitivity of all the twelve P. multocida isolates confirmed by biochemical and Microbact GNB 24E test. The twelve pure isolates of P. multocida were tested for their sensitivity against fifteen different antibiotics. Drug sensitivity test conducted on P. multocida isolates showed that some of the isolates were resistant to penicillin 11 (73%), microlides 9 (60%), sulfanomides 8 (53.3%), cephalosporins 3 (20%) and other new groups of antibiotics 4 (27%). High resistance of P. multocida was recorded for ampicillin (91.7%) followed by amoxicillin/c lavulanic acid (83.3%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (66.7%), erythromycin and anicillin (58.3%) each, while tylosin was (33.3%). This study revealed that there is an emergence of multidrug resistance in some P. multocida strains among chickens in Jos, Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that antibiotic sensitivity test should be incorporated on a routine bases as part of measure to control fowl cholera and minimize the emergence of P. multocida resistance.