A new study reveals the emergence of multi-drug resistance in some Pasteurella multocida strains among chickens in Jos, Nigeria.

Scientists who carried out the study recommend that antibiotic sensitivity test should be incorporated on a routine basis as part of measure to control fowl cholera and minimise the emergence of antibiotic resistance in P. multocida.

Antibiotic resistance is often encountered despite multiple antibiotics being used for the treatment of fowl cholera in Jos in central Nigeria, they said.

Y.D. Dashe from the National Veterinary Research Institute and co-authors at Ahmadu Bello University conducted a study to determine the antibiotic resistant profile of P. multocida isolated from chickens in Jos.Their report is published in International Journal of Poultry Science.

A total of 2,000 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 per cent defibrinated sheep blood, MacConkey and casein sucrose yeast agar. Presumptive colonies of P. multocida were subjected to biochemical characterisation. 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 12 P. multocida isolates confirmed by biochemical and Microbact GNB 24E test. The pure isolates of P. multocida were tested for their sensitivity against 15 different antibiotics.

Drug sensitivity test conducted on P. multocida isolates showed that some of the isolates were resistant to penicillin, 11 (73 per cent); microlides, nine (60 per cent); sulphonamides, eight (53.3 per cent); cephalosporins, three (20 per cent) and other new groups of antibiotics, four (27 per cent).

High resistance of P. multocida was recorded for ampicillin (91.7 per cent) followed by amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (83.3 per cent), trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole (66.7 per cent), erythromycin and anicillin (58.3 per cent) each, while tylosin was (33.3 per cent).

Reference

Dashe Y.D., M.A. Raji, P.A. Abdu, B.S. Oladele and M.Y. Sugun. 2013. Multidrug resistant Pasteurella multocida strains isolated from chickens with cases of fowl cholera in Jos, Nigeria. Int. J. Poult. Sci., 12(10): 596-600.