Indian Journal of Poultry Science

Poultry is an important vehicle of pathogens such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, various members of Enterobacteriaceae, Aspergillus spp. etc. and parasites such as, Cryptosporidia have been documented in the literature. It is also a well known fact that prolonged and excessive indiscriminate usage of various antimicrobials result in the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. So, a study was undertaken to investigate presence of various pathogens and their susceptibility patterns in hen's eggs collected from HPKV poultry fann and shops in and around Palampur. In all, a total of21 eggs'yielded 30 different bacterial and one fungal isolate(s). Among bacteria, Staphylococcus spp. were more frequently isolated and 14 isolations were made, some in combination with other microbes. The other bacteria isolated were E. coli (7), Salmonella (3), Citrobacter (3), Enterococcus (2) and Pseudomonas (1). The antibiotic susceptibility pattern showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was resistant to ampicillin, cotrimazine, streptomycin and penicillin. The other bacterial isolates like Staph. aureus, E. coli, Salmonella spp. and Citrobacter spp. also revealed resistance to one or more chemotherapeutics that are extensively used in poultry as well as to treat human infections. In conclusion, the results indicate tllat antibiotic-resistant strains might be transmitted to humans by the consumption of eggs containing such multi-drug-resistance bacteria and that the irrational use of antibiotics should be avoided.