Investigation of Antimicrobial Resistance Status of Aerobic Bacteria Causing Arthritis in Broilers

Abstract

It is recognized that bacterial arthritis, which causes significant losses in the poultry industry, occurs frequently after septicemia or localized infection to the joints and is associated with many bacterial agents. This study was aimed to identify aerobic bacterial agents and to investigate the antibiotic resistance of the isolates which cause arthritis in commercial broilers in mid-west Turkey. A total of 152 joint fluid samples were collected from the one commercial broiler farm from broilers with arthritis. Joint fluid samples were inoculated in mannitol salt agar, enterococcosel agar, eosine methylene blue agar and 7% ovine blood agar after pre-enrichment and then incubated for 48 hours at 37°C. Identification of bacteria and detection of antibiotic resistance was performed with VITEK II automated system (bioMérieux, France). After the culture period, no growth was observed in 53 (34.9%) joint fluid samples; a total of 112 aerobic bacteria (52 Gram negative and 60 Gram positive) were isolated from 99 (65.1%) broilers. While pure agent was isolated from eighty-six broilers, two microorganisms were isolated from 13 broilers. The data revealed that Staphylococcus spp. (56/112, 50.0%), Escherichia spp. (44/112, 39.3%) Salmonella spp. (7/112, 6.2%), Enterococcus spp. (4/112, 3.6%), Enterobacter spp. (1/112, 0.9%) were the significant pathogens isolated from joint fluid samples from broilers with arthritis. Fifty-two Gram negative bacterial isolates were the most resistant to cephalexin (90.0%) followed by cephalotine (78.8%), doxycycline (71.2%), tetracycline and chloramphenicol (69.2%). Sixty Gram positive bacterial isolates were the most resistant to marbofloxacin (78.3%) followed by amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (75.0%), benzylpenicillin (68.3%), clindamycin, tetracycline and doxycycline (66.6%). To the best knowledge of the authors this is the first study that evaluated simultaneously the prevalence of broad spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) isolated from broiler with arthritis in Turkey. Twelve (12/46, 26.1%) CNS isolates were resistant to cefoxitin and eight (8/44, 18.2%) E. coli isolates had ESBL activity, indicating that these isolates could serve as a problem for public health. Further infection control measures need to be investigated and implemented in order to reduce the spread of these resistant bacteria.

Keywords

Aerobic bacteria; Antibiogram; Arthritis; Broiler Chickens; Cefoxin resistance; ESBL.