Isolation And Antibiotic Sensitivity Of Salmonella Species In Egg In Farms In Umudike

ABSTRACT

A survey was carried out to determine the level of contamination of eggs with Salmonella species from poultry farms around Umudike. Four farms were sampled with a total number of two hundred and forty eggs (240) collected from the farms. The antibiotic sensitivity pattern was determined using disc agar diffusion method. Of the 240 samples, 58 (24%) isolates produced growth and the antibiotics testing was carried out using 58 isolates. The antibiotic sensitivity testing revealed that all 58 isolates were sensitive to Nitrofuratoin, 42 (72.4%) were sensitive to Gentamycin, 22 (37.9%) isolates were sensitive to Ofloxacin, 17 (29.3%) isolates were sensitive to Nalidixic acid, while only 4(6.9%) were sensitive to both Amoxicillin and Tetracycline. All the isolates were resistant to Cotrimoxazole. The level of contamination of eggs with Salmonella species as revealed in this study is high in the study area. This poses a significant public health problem to the consumers of these eggs and shows that better hygienic practices should be implemented in these farms to reduce the level of contamination.