A Survey of Antimicrobial Agents Usage in Poultry Farms and Antibiotic Resistance in Escherichia Coli and Staphylococci Isolates from the Poultry in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract

Compared to other livestock, domestic fowls are much more commonly reared and consumed in Nigeria. The emergence of serious live-threatening infections from veterinary sources and treatment failures occurring with the available antibiotics warrants investigation into the use of antimicro-bial agents in poultry farms and how they contribute to the menace of antibiotic resistance. The main aim of this study was to investigate the use of antimicrobial agents in poultry farms by poultry farmers in Ile-Ife and the prevalence of resistance in bacterial isolates from the poultry. The study was carried out in two stages which comprised of field work and laboratory investigations. A total of 60 questionnaires were distributed to farmers patronizing two well known poultry drug seller shops in Ile-Ife. Ten out of the 60 farms were subsequently visited for sample collection. Fresh feacal samples were collected from the farms for isolation and identification of E. coli and Staphylococci which were subsequently subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility tests. All the poultry farmers used one or more antibiotics for their birds. Antibiotics were used mostly for therapeutic and pro-phylactic purposes and to a lesser extent for growth promotion. Cotrimoxazole and neomycin were the most commonly used antibiotics. The E. coli strains were more resistant than the staphylococci and showed 100% resistance to nalidixic acid and amoxicillin but with lower resistance to gentamicin. Our findings provide additional evidence that the poultry production environment in Nigeria represents an important reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes which poses potential public health risk to human populations.