Prevalence and Antibiogram Profiles of Salmonella Isolated from Pigeons in Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in apparently healthy pigeons at the live bird markets, farms and villages in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh. Cloacal swabs (n = 36), foot pads (n = 36) and feces (n = 40) of pigeons were collected aseptically and inoculated onto various culture media for isolation of Salmonella. Identification of Salmonella from culture positive samples was performed by cultural characteristics, Grams staining and biochemical tests. The prevalence of Salmonella in cloacal swabs, foot pads and feces was 22.22%, 58.33% and 27.50%, respectively. The overall prevalence of Salmonella in pigeons was 35.71%. Pigeons at live bird markets, farms and villages showed a 40.48%, 20% and 30% prevalence of Salmonella, respectively. Antibiotic sensitivity tests of the Salmonella was performed by the disc diffusion method against 10 randomly used antibiotics. The highest rate of resistance was found with amoxicillin (90%) followed by ampicillin (80%), erythromycin (80%) and tetracycline (60%). The highest rate of sensitivity was recorded to ciprofloxacin (80%) followed by sulphamethoxazole (70%), chloramphenicol (60%), kanamycin (60%), gentamicin (60%) and nalidixic acid (60%). Data from this study suggest that pigeons carry multi-drug resistant Salmonella which can be transferred to humans through direct contact or the food chain and could cause a potential public health hazard.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/mh.v1i2.14090

Microbes and Health, 2012 1(2): 54-57