ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the bacterial contaminants associated with different parts of birds in a poultry farm within Umuahia. A total of 60 swab samples were collected from the different parts (mouth, wings, anus and legs) of the birds in poultry houses within Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike using sterile swab sticks moistened with physiological saline. This is to ensure that microorganisms on the different surfaces adhere to the swab sticks. All samples collected were transported to Microbiology laboratory Mouau immediately and cultured using the streak plate method on MacConkey agar, Blood agar, Mannitol salt agar and incubated for 24 hours at 37°C for bacterial growth. The resulting colonies from the MacConkey agar, Mannitol salt agar and blood agar plates were purified by sub-culturing on freshly prepared nutrient agar plates. The plates were incubated at 35°C for 24hours. The predominant bacteria isolated were Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sp, Salmonella sp, Shigella sp, and Escherichia coli. it was observed that Escherichia coli is the most frequently occurring isolates with a percentage occurrence of (29.4%), this is followed by Staphylococcus aureus with a percentage occurrence of (25.5%), then Salmonella sp with the percentage occurrence of (23.5%), Shigella sp with a percentage occurrence of (13.7%), whereas Streptococcus sp has the least percentage occurrence of (7.8%). It was observed that the legs part has the highest percentage bacteria distribution of (41.2%), followed by the anus part with a percentage distribution of (27.5%) whereas the mouth and the wings part have the least percentage distribution of (15.7%). The antibiotic sensitivity test showed that Ofloxacin (92.2% is the drug of choice following the fact that it showed high rate of sensitivity to the bacterial isolates tested, this is followed by Gentamicin (82.4%), Streptomycin (58.8%), Cefiriaxone (56.9%), whereas Cotrimoxazole and Ampicillin (17.6%) has the least percentage susceptibility to the isolates. It can be concluded that potential pathogenic bacteria were isolated; namely, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sp, Salmonella sp, Shigella sp, and Escherichia coli. These organisms may contaminate poultry products and constitute a real hazard for public health. Furthermore, studies should be conducted in other regions to ascertain the prevalence of these pathogens and their antibiotic resistance in poultry products.