Prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of bacteria isolated from poultry of different farms of Rajasthan, India

The study was conducted to determine the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of the bacteria producing diseases in poultry. A thorough post mortem examination of poultry carcasses obtained from different regions of Southern Rajasthan was done and samples were collected from liver, heart blood and intestine. Isolation and Identification of Bacterial pathogen was done as per the standard procedure and they were further examined for In-vitro antibiotic susceptibility by the disc diffusion method. The bacteria that were isolated from poultry were Escherichia coli, Salmonella species, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumonia. Prevalence of E. coli infection was highest. Majority of the bacterial isolates were sensitive to Cefixime, Amikacin, Ceftriaxone and Cefotaxime. So, these drugs may be used as the drug of choice against these bacterial isolates. Resistance was observed against Ampicillin, Co-Trimoxazole, Tetracycline, as well as towards Gentamicin, Amoxyclav and chloramphenicol. It is concluded that prevalence of E. coli infection was highest in poultry and multi-drug resistance bacteria are increasing rapidly. This suggests implementing better management practices and prudent use of antibiotics in poultry to minimize the antibiotic resistance in animals and its transmission to humans.