Antimicrobial Resistance Profiling of E. coli Isolated from Various Sources of Broiler Farms in District Quetta, Balochistan

Abstract

The rapid growth of the chicken business in Pakistan has brought about a large-scale outbreak of infectious illnesses, which posed difficulties for the sector. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in various broiler farms located in the Quetta district, and to evaluate the susceptibility of the E. coli isolates to different antimicrobial agents. A total of 150 samples from a variety of sources (cecum, feed, bedding, water, air, and flies; n = 25 each) were collected from five distinct broiler farms (n=30/farm) in the district of Quetta. Samples were streaked on selective (Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate agar) and differential medium (MacConkey’s agar) plates and incubated at 37°C for 24 hours. After isolation, organisms were further identified through Gram staining, and different biochemical tests. Among the total samples, 92(61.33%) showed positive growth of E. coli whereas 58(38.6%) samples were negative for E. coli. Source-wise distribution results showed that E. coli was mostly isolated from water samples (88%) followed by cecal samples (80%), air samples (72%), feed samples (48%), bedding samples (40%), and flies samples (40%). The prevalence of E. coli in different types/sources of samples was found statistically different (P=0.0012). Likewise, the farm-wise data exhibited that the prevalence of E. coli in different broiler farms was significantly varied (P= 0.0011). Some antibiotics like amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, ampicillin, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, strepto-mycin, and tetracycline were found 100% resistant while, imipenem, chloramphenicol, tobramycin and ciprofloxacin showed 100% susceptibility to E. coli isolates. These results showed that the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant E. coli is very high in Quetta district thus, strict biosecurity and control of non-judicial use of antibiotics in poultry production is warranted.