ABSTRACT

 Food borne diseases are continuing challenges to human health worldwide. Over the decades, the epidemiology of foodbome diseases has changed rapidly as a consequence of changes in the social environment and the ability ofpathogens to adapt to new niches. This study was to determine the antibiotics susceptibility profile of Salmonella spp from Poultry Farms in Umuahia. A total of sixty (60) poultry samples represented by faeces and cloacae were collected from different poultry farms in Umuahia for the purpose of this work. The collected samples were processed, inoculated and cultured on Salmonella/Shigella agar using spread plate techniques. From the present study, the percentage occurrence of Salmonella from poultry samples obtained from farms within Umuahia revealed that out of the sixty (60) samples examined for the incidence of Salmonella specie, a total of forty-two (42) samples showed positive growth indicating the presence of Salmonella specie. Among the various locations examined for the presence of Salmonella species in the poultry samples, samples obtained from Nkwoegwu had the highest percentage occurrence of Salmonella species at 21(50.0%), followed by Ahieke at 13(30.9%), while the least was recorded for Olokoro at 8(19.0%). The drug susceptibility profile of bacterial isolate from the poultry samples revealed that Ofloxacin (5mcg) and Gentamicin (lOmcg) exhibited high percentage of sensitivity against the Salmonella isolates at 35(83.3%), while Ceftiaxone (30mcg), Amoxicillin (30mcg), Cioxacillin (5mcg), Cefuroxime (30mcg), Ceftazidime (30mcg), and Erythromycin (30mcg) showed high level of resistance against the Salmonella isolates at 37(88.0%), 38(90.4%), 34(80.9%), 42(100%), 29(69.0%) and 421(97.6%) respectively. The high sensitivity to the antibiotics drug (Ofloxacin and Gentamicin) indicates that the drug could serve as the drugs of choice in the control of salmonellosis in the poultry production setting in Umuahia. The presence of Salmonella contamination in local poultry products is of public health concern, therefore there is need for optimum hygienic practices in farms in order to decrease bacterial load in poultry products in Umuahia.