Antibiotic Resistance of Escherichia Coli Isolated From Poultry and Poultry Environment of Bangladesh

Problem statement: Increased emergence in microbial resistance to antibiotics is a growing problem in Bangladesh, a tropical country with a large agrarian population having limited medical facilities. Wide spread use of antimicrobials in poultry farming here is a concern of multi-drug microbial resistance development that can potentially be transmitted to human pathogens even from non-pathogenic carrier strains. Attempt was made to assess drug susceptibility in Escherichia coli from poultry sources of Bangladesh. Approach: Eighty selected strains isolated from poultry sources were thoroughly characterized by standard cultural and biochemical tests followed by final identification using latex agglutination test of polyvalent anti-sera, from which 50 were tested for susceptibility to 13 antibiotics following disk diffusion method. Results: 145 (58 %) samples, out of total 250, were found positive for E. coli. 52-88 % of tested E. coli strains from poultry sources were found resistant to Penicillin, Ciprofloxacin, Riphampicin, Kanamycin, Streptomycin, Cefixine, Erythromycin, Ampicillin, Tetracycline, and 20 % strains showed resistance to both Chloramphenicol and Neomycin. No strains showed resistance to Norfloxacin and Gentamicin. Sensitivity was recorded in case of 60-86 % strains to Norfloxacin, Gentamicin, Chloramphenicol, and Neomycin; and 26-36 % strains against Tetracycline, Streptomycin, and Ampicillin. Intermediate resistance/ susceptibility to various antibiotics were observed for 12-36 % Escherichia coli strains. Both, resistance and susceptibility were exhibited against Chloramphenicol, Ampicillin, Gentamicin, Neomycin, Tetracycline, Streptomycin and Norfloxacin. Multi drug resistance was found in case of 6-10 antibiotics for all strains tested. Conclusion: Further study is required on the role of poultry borne bacteria as vectors in transmitting drug resistance. Attention is to be paid for personnel hygiene in processing and handling of poultry and poultry products; and excess use or abuse of antibiotics should be reduced or stopped by the judicious application of antibiotics for the safety of public health in Bangladesh.