Short communicationAntimicrobial resistance profile of Salmonella present in poultry and poultry environment in north India

The current study was carried out to detect Salmonella spp. contamination on poultry and poultry environmental samples of layer farms situated in Bareilly and to determine the antibiotic susceptibility profiles and serotype distribution of the isolates. A total of 720 samples of egg, feed, water, cloaca, and faeces were collected and screened for the presence of Salmonella. Twenty four (3.3%) of the samples tested were found to be positive for Salmonella. Out of 180 chicken eggs, 120 poultry feed samples, 120 poultry water samples, 120 fecal samples and 180 cloacal swabs, the isolation frequencies of Salmonella spp. were 3.3%, 2.5%, 3.3%, 2.5% and 4.4% respectively. Among the isolates, Salmonella Typhimurium was the predominant serovar. The antibiogram testing revealed differential multi-drug resistance among Salmonella isolates in poultry and poultry environment samples. All the isolates were resistant to clindamycin, oxacillin, penicillin and vancomycin whereas sensitivity was recorded for ampicillin, enrofloxacin and colistin. As a result, the relatively high resistance among the bacteria present in poultry could pose public health and therapeutic problems to consumers as potential vehicles of resistant Salmonella foodborne infections.