Prevalence, Characteristics and Antibiogram of Escherichia coli Isolated from Chickens at several selected markets in Chittagong Metropoliton area, Bangladesh

Abstract

Escherichia coli known to cause food-borne illnesses worldwide that are closely associated with the consumption of contaminated poultry and egg products. This study was undertaken for cultural, biochemical and antibiotic sensitivity analyses of E. coli recovered from chickens in selected markets of Chittagong metropoliton area. Cloacal samples (n=120) were aseptically collected from broilers (n=60) and indigenous chickens (n=60). The samples were enriched in nutrient broth and streaked onto MacConkey (MC) agar and eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar for cultural characterization of the E. coli isolates. Culture-positive samples yielded characteristic colonies of E. coli with bright pink or red colonies on MC agar and metallic sheen on EMB agar. The E. coli isolates produced acid and gas by fermenting sugars (dextrose, sucrose, lactose, maltose and mannitol) and gave positive reaction to indole, methyl red (MR) and catalase tests, but were negative to Voges-Proskauer (VP) test. The prevalence of E. coli in broilers and indigenous chickens were 67 and 80%, respectively. The antibiotic sensitivity pattern demonstrated that E. coli isolates were mostly sensitive to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, chloramphenicol and cephalexin, and resistant to streptomycin, tetracycline, amoxicillin and nalidixic acid. Data of this study suggested that intestine of chicken could be a major reservoir of antibiotic resistant E. coli.