Abstract

Aim: There is increasing reports of antibiotic treatment failures for bacterial diseases of poultry in Nigeria. Lack of adequate data on antibiotic resistance of bacteria in Nigeria is a major setback to AMR (antimicrobial resistance) control. This study presents a breakdown of avian bacterial diseases diagnosed between 2020 and 2022.
Methods: Retrospective analysis was done on data obtained from records of cases handled in the clinic. Cases were based on clinical signs, necropsy lesions observed and outcome of laboratory tests. Number of Avian disease cases handled were 6,940. Different classes of avian species were handled and commercial layers constituted 53.27± 2.04% of these. Bacteria isolated and subjected to antibiotic susceptibility test via disc diffusion technique were 5,983. Isolated bacteria were evaluated for susceptibility against nine antibiotics which included Enrofloxacin(250μg), Streptomycin(300μg), Penicillin-streptomycin(150IU/300μg), Florfenicol (300μg), Oxytetracycline (250μg), Tylosin (250μg), Colistin (480 IU), Furaltadone (300μg) and Gentamicin (250μg).
Results: Predominant bacterial specie isolated was Escherichia coli which constituted 46.2%, 69.6% and 57.3%. Enrofloxacin showed high ratio of susceptibility to resistance (13.28 : 1) i.e. 1,036 isolates susceptible and 78 resistant in 2020. This ratio reduced to 6.36 :1 and 2.58 : 1 in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Oxytetracycline had a very poor ratio of susceptibility to resistance (0.012:1) i.e. 16 susceptible to 1,346 resistant isolates in 2020.
Conclusion: High level of resistance to antibiotics observed shows a need to strongly regulate their use and explore other means of biosecurity like vaccination, feed and water sanitation to minimize exposure of birds to these pathogens.

Key words: Antibiotic, Avian, Bacterial diseases, Escherichia coli ,Resistance.