Disinfectant and Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative Bacteria in Chicks

In recent years there has been a dramatic development for multidrug-resistant and disinfectant-resistant bacteria in poultry farms, to investigate the current prevalence and losses associated with these phenomena, Samples from chicks were taken from 3 poultry stations A, B, and C beside broiler hatcheries (newly hatched chicks). Newly hatched chicks were monitored for Clinical signs, postmortem examination, and performance and mortality rate for one week old. All newly hatched chicks showed the appearance of gasped chicks with low vitality and the rates of gasping increased at the farm level with increased mortality from 8.8 %- 15.5% in the first week. Postmortem examination revealed the presence of nephritis with urate deposition in the ureter, air vasculitis with the appearance of a nodule, a large gall bladder, and a cecum with a greenish color. E. coli was recorded with a high percentage 57.4% followed by S. Typhimurium 8.2% and P.aeruginousa 4.1%. Clostin showed impressive results for treating isolated bacteria from chicks, while erythromycin, spiramycin, lincomycin, oxytetracycline, bacitracin, streptomycin, followed by ampicillin, doxycycline, and gentamycin showed high resistance among isolated bacteria. Alarmingly, 88.9% (8/9) of the E. coli strains were XDR to different classes. In contrast, 11.1% (1/9) of the isolated E. coli strains were multi-drug resistant. One isolate of S. Typhimurium was PDR and another isolate was MDR. All of the P. aeurginosa strains were XDR to different classes. The previous results showed the risk of infection comes from the improper disinfection of the hatchery and how it is associated with losses in poultry farms and there is a need for the prevalence of the disinfection genes in hatchery bacteria.