Antimicrobial Resistance Profile of Salmonella Typhimurium Isolated from Commercial Poultry and Poultry Farm Handlers in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Aim: This study was designed to investigate the antimicrobial resistance profile of Salmonella Typhimurium isolated from commercial poultry and handlers in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Study Design: Investigative. Place and Duration of Study: Microbiology Laboratory, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria, from 1st November 2017 to 31th April 2018. Methodology: A total of 1500 samples (poultry droppings, poultry flesh, feeds, handlers’ faeces and hand swabs) were screened for the presence of Salmonella Typhimurium using pre-enrichment and selective enrichment culture media. Subculture of inoculated samples was done on Salmonella-Shigella agar and Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate agar. Presumptive Salmonella colonies were confirmedas serovar Typhimurium using both the conventional biochemical screening tests and Microgen Bio product GN identification system and slide agglutination test using polyvalent antisera. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and interpretation were carried out as described by the Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute guidelines. Results: Resistance was highest to Augmentin (98.1%) and lowest to Imipenem (1.0%). No resistance was observed in all the isolates from poultry handlers to Ceftriaxone, Ceftazidime, Gentamicin and Streptomycin; but all were resistant to Ampicillin and Augmentin. The resistance of isolates from poultry and handlers to all the antibiotics is significant (χ 2 = 13.037; P = 0.01). Most (86.7%, 92/106) resistant isolates belong to the multiple drug resistance class.The distribution of classes of resistance of isolates from poultry and handlers is significant (χ2 = 318; P = 0.00). MARI is greater than 0.2. Conclusion: Salmonella Typhimurium with increasing multidrug resistance to antibiotics especially the β-lactam antibiotics has emerged in poultry.