Apparently Healthy Chickens and Farm Wastewater as Potential Reservoirs for Antimicrobial Resistance Enterobacteriaceae: Food Safety Concerns
Document Type : Pilot study
Authors
- 1 Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana, United States and Department of Environmental Science, Bangladesh University of Professionals, Bangladesh
- 2 Department of Environmental Science, Bangladesh University of Professionals, Bangladesh and Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
- 3 International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh
Abstract
Background: The high prevalence of infectious diseases in chickens poses a significant danger to their health and production. In Bangladesh's commercial chicken farms, antibiotics are frequently utilized as both a prophylactic and therapeutic strategy. Infected hens frequently shown medication resistance. Our understanding of the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) for Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella spp., and Klebsiella spp. in healthy hens remains poor.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the AMR pattern of E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Klebsiella spp. in apparently healthy chicken. Freshly laid feces were collected from nine different chickens of varying ages (3 days, 25 days, and more than 18 weeks). In addition, we obtained a wastewater sample from the farm's effluent. All samples were tested for E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Klebsiella spp. using the total viable count (TVC) method. The disk diffusion method was used to determine antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial isolates.
Results: E. coli was detected in the majority of the ten samples tested, followed by Salmonella spp. (30%) and Klebsiella spp. All sixteen isolates were resistant to cotrimoxazole (100%), amoxycillin (100%), erythromycin (100%), doxycycline (100%), ciprofloxacin (87.5%), levofloxacin (75%), azithromycin (68.75%), and cephalexin (37.5%). No isolate shown complete susceptibility to all tested antibiotics.
Conclusion: The presence of AMR E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Klebsiella spp. in both healthy chickens and farm surroundings suggests that they may operate as a reservoir for clinically relevant resistant bacteria, with public health implications.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the AMR pattern of E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Klebsiella spp. in apparently healthy chicken. Freshly laid feces were collected from nine different chickens of varying ages (3 days, 25 days, and more than 18 weeks). In addition, we obtained a wastewater sample from the farm's effluent. All samples were tested for E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Klebsiella spp. using the total viable count (TVC) method. The disk diffusion method was used to determine antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial isolates.
Results: E. coli was detected in the majority of the ten samples tested, followed by Salmonella spp. (30%) and Klebsiella spp. All sixteen isolates were resistant to cotrimoxazole (100%), amoxycillin (100%), erythromycin (100%), doxycycline (100%), ciprofloxacin (87.5%), levofloxacin (75%), azithromycin (68.75%), and cephalexin (37.5%). No isolate shown complete susceptibility to all tested antibiotics.
Conclusion: The presence of AMR E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Klebsiella spp. in both healthy chickens and farm surroundings suggests that they may operate as a reservoir for clinically relevant resistant bacteria, with public health implications.