Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance Profile of E. coli and Salmonella spp. from Liver and Heart of Chickens

E. coli and Salmonella spp. are responsible for causing colibacillosis and salmonellosis in chickens respectively. This research work was undertaken to study the prevalence of colibacillosis and salmonellosis in commercial chickens of Chattogram, and to know the antibiogram profiles of the isolated bacteria. A well-structured questionnaire was used to know the prevalence of colibacillosis and salmonellosis. Previously collected liver and heart samples through postmortem of a total of 100 dead and sick chickens were used. MacConkey agar, EMB agar, and XLD agar were used to isolate, and identify E. coli and Salmonella spp. Finally, Gram’s staining and different biochemical tests were performed to identify these two bacterial isolates. 14 different commercially available antimicrobial discs like ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, streptomycin, colistin sulphate, neomycin, cefoxitin, amoxycillin, tetracycline, gentamicin, norfloxacin, azithromycin, doxycycline, cloxacillin, and erythromycin were used. Data were analyzed with p-value by using Graph Pad Software. 48 samples were recorded as positive for E. coli and 5 for Salmonella spp. The prevalence of E. coli and Salmonella spp. were varied depending on different parameters like age, bird rearing system, farm size, source of water, source of food, medication and vaccination. Form antibiogram study it was revealed that E. coli was highly sensitive to colistin sulphate and ciprofloxacin; intermediate to gentamicin followed by cefoxitin and resistant to other 10 antimicrobials. In case of Salmonella spp., it was recorded as sensitive to colistin sulphate, and cefoxitin; intermediate to ciprofloxacin, and resistant to other 11 antimicrobials. The findings of this research work would certainly help the poultry farmers to select proper antibiotics against colibacillosis and salmonellosis in chickens of Bangladesh and to overcome the multi-drug resistant problem of the bacteria.