The poultry industry, especially chicken production has in recent times faced a major set-back due to devastating effects of APEC Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactases (ESBL) producing organisms. This research aimed at investigating antimicrobial susceptibility profile and diversity of ESBL producing avian pathogenic Escherichia coli(APEC) among fecal cloacal swaps of scavenging local chickens based on the various housing systems. The APEC isolates were determined by virulence factor profiling and by Kirby-Baeur disc diffusion, 42% of the APEC isolates were found to be ESBL producers. Of the ESBL isolates, 87.5% were resistant to nalidixc acid, 37.5% were resistant to cefotaxime, Trimethroprim-Sulfamethoxazole, augmentnin and cephalothin, 25% were resistant to Ceftriaxone whiles no isolate was resistant to Imipenem, gentamycin and ciprofloxacin. On screening, a total of 32 beta-lactamase genes were found amongst these isolates, all of these isolates harbored the blaTEM gene.Semi-intensively kept chickens harbored more ESBL genes and in more diverse forms than the extensively kept ones.

Download this article as