Antimicrobial-resistant Klebsiella species isolated from free-range chicken samples in an informal settlement

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Date
2012Author
Fielding, Burtram C.
Mnabisa, Amanda
Gouws, Pieter A.
Morris, Thureyah
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Show full item recordAbstract
Sub-therapeutic doses of antimicrobial agents are administered
routinely to poultry to aid growth and to prevent disease, with prolonged exposure
often resulting in bacterial resistance. Crossover of antibiotic resistant bacteria
from poultry to humans poses a risk to human health.
In this study, 17 chicken samples collected from a vendor
operating in an informal settlement in the Cape Town Metropolitan area,
South Africa were screened for antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacilli
using the Kirby Bauer disk diffusion assay.
In total, six antibiotics were screened: ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin,
nalidixic acid, tetracycline and trimethoprim. Surprisingly, Klebsiella
ozaenae was identified in 96 and K. rhinoscleromatis in 6 (n = 102) of the samples
tested. Interestingly, ~40% of the isolated Klebsiella spp. showed multiple
resistance to at least three of the six antibiotics tested.
Klebsiella ozaenae and K. rhinoscleromatis cause clinical chronic
rhinitis and are almost exclusively associated with people living in areas of poor
hygiene.