Prevalence And Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns Of Salmonella And Campylobacter Species In Chicken Waste, Bungoma County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing threat to public health and is driven by various factors including the overuse or misuse of antibiotics in poultry production which could lead to development of resistant bacteria that can be transferred to humans and hence compromise human medicine. The use of antibiotics in poultry production could be for vaccination/prophylaxis, treatment or growth promotion. This study was a cross-sectional study in Bungoma county that sought to establish the prevalence and antibiotic sensitivity of Salmonella and Campylobacter species, by sampling of chicken waste then analyzing it for presence of Salmonella & Campylobacter bacteria species and testing their sensitivity to 4 antibiotics. The aim of the study was to determine prevalence of Salmonella and Campylobacter species in chicken waste in Bungoma county, to determine the sensitivity of Salmonella and Campylobacter species to Tetracycline, Ampycillin, Imipinem and Co-trimazole antibiotics and to determine risk factors for Salmonella & Campylobacter infection and spread of resistant bacteria among chicken keeping households. Random sampling design was used to recruit 169 households where a duplicate of chicken waste samples was collected and a questionnaire issued to the farmers. The BS EN ISO 6579 -1-2017 technique was used in the identification of Salmonella species and ISO 10272-2:2017 technique used for the detection and enumeration of Campylobacter species. The disk diffusion test was used for antibiotic sensitivity testing of the bacteria. SPSS was used for analysis; Logistic regression was used to measure sensitivity of the bacteria to the specific antibiotics and Pearson’s r analysis used to measure correlation among variables. The prevalence for campylobacter was higher in the county of Bungoma at 4.32% compared to that of salmonella at 1.44%. The use of traditional medicine was found less likely to cause presence of resistant bacteria. Risk factors identified for the development and spread of AMR associated with chicken production include; use of antibiotics for growth promotion, frequency of use of antibiotics and use of chicken waste as manure in farming. The study recommended that farmers should be encouraged to obtain already vaccinated chicks and the use of traditional medicine be promoted during chicken production. Further research should be conducted on the possibility of transfer of resistance through food crops.