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OJVRTM
Online Journal of Veterinary Research©
Volume 8 : 79-84, 2004.
E. coli infection and antibiotic resistance in diseased and
healthy broilers
ABSTRACT
Ahmad MD, Rauf A, Rai MF. E. coli infection
and antibiotic resistance in diseased and healthy broilers, Online J Vet Res, 8:79-84, 2004. The rate of Escherichia coli infection and
antibiotic resistance of isolates from diseased and healthy broilers at
slaughter age was evaluated. Of 103 strains of E. coli, 52 were isolated from moribund
birds submitted for postmortem examination and 51 from the intestinal contents
of the healthy birds brought from different slaughter points. The in vitro pathogenicity
of E. coli was determined by growth characteristics of isolated strains
on Congo-red medium. The pathogenic strains were identified by the production
of brick red colonies on the medium after 48 hours of incubation at 37 oC. These isolates were also tested for in vitro antibiotic susceptibility
test using disc diffusion technique. All the strains tested were sensitive to enorfloxacin with an inhibitory zone of 2.11±0.20 cm. Norfloxacin was the second antibiotic of choice (2.11±0.9
cm). The majority of the isolates were highly resistant to erythromycin and trimethoprim.
KEY WORDS: Escherichia
coli, postmortem, slaughter age, broilers, antibiotic resistance