Cloacal feacal carriage and occurrence of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli in chicken grown with and without antibiotic supplemented feed

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 cystinelactose-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.

Comparison of different approaches to antibiotic restriction in food-producing animals: stratified results from a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Of the 127 studies, 51 restricted all use of antibiotics (complete restriction),35–85 three restricted use of a single antibiotic class86–88 and seven restricted use of a single specific antibiotic 89–95. In all, 33 studies restricted use of antibiotics for all non-therapeutic purposes,48 96–127 and 19 restricted antibiotic growth promoters only 128–146. A total of 21 studies were classified into the ‘other/undetermined’ category 52 53 83 100 137 147–162.…”

Bacteriophage therapy as an alternative biocontrol against emerging multidrug resistant E. coli in broilers

“…Moreover, this variation thought to be a result of the seasons as they recorded E. coli higher prevalence rate was reported in winter (60.9%) than that in summer (41%) according to ( Abd El Tawab et al, 2015 ) . Antibiotics are being used more frequently in broiler chickens for treatment and as a growth promoter was also blamed for the prevalent heterogeneity of E. coli as reported by ( White et al, 2001 ) and ( Nwankwo et al, 2014 ).…”

Multiple antimicrobial resistance of <i>Escherichia coli</i> and <i>Salmonella</i> species isolated from broilers and local chickens retailed along the roadside in Zaria, Nigeria

“…We observed a higher isolation rate (50.0%) of E. coli from local chickens than from broilers (8.00%). A possible explanation for this difference may be due to the increased use of antibiotics for treatment and as growth promoter in broiler chickens (White et al, 2001;Nwankwo et al, 2014). The high occurrence of E. coli in local chickens in Hanwa, Zaria may be due to the fact that local chickens in Nigeria are commonly reared under free range conditions with minimal care, as chickens scavenge for food and water (Geidam et al, 2012); hence are exposed to environmental contaminants and bacterial infections.…”