Abstract
Shigella is a Gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium belongs to family Enterobacteriaceae. Shiga toxin is a toxin produced by Shigella species strains. Shigellosis is regarded as a major issue for both public and veterinary health. Shigella is the cause of bloody purulent diarrhea and food poisoning in humans. It also causes several animal illnesses and has a high death and morbidity rate. Shigella spp. are disseminated by direct contact with an infected person, contaminated food, or polluted water. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the occurrence of Shigella in broilers from different poultry farms from different locations in District Abbottabad and to determine their antibiogram. In the present study, overall 200 liver samples of dead chicken during October 2017 to April 2018 were used to check the isolation identification and antibiogram of shigella. Shigella was isolated after passing the samples through pre-enrichment, selective enrichment and culture in a selective medium and identified using standard microbiological and biochemical methods. Antibiotic susceptibility test was performed by the disc diffusion method according to the CLSI method (Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion test) on Muller-Hinton agar. Liver samples were collected from broiler chicken from five age groups and from seven different areas of district Abbott bad. All these samples were examined by traditional method. After examination 36/200 sample were positive for shigella with incidence of 18%. Samples were collected from different age-groups. After isolation, a high incidence was found in 8-14 days old broiler (25%) rather than 29 -35 days and 0-7 days (19%, 16%) respectively, and a low incidence 22-28 days 15-21 days and (11%.12%) was found. Total 36 isolates were tested for antimicrobial drug susceptibility against 5 commonly used antibiotics belonging to different groups by disc diffusion method or Kirby-Bauer method. Antibiotic sensitivity and resistance patterns of isolated Shigella spp. were studied by disc diffusion method using 5 commonly prescribed antibiotics. Shigella showed resistance to various antimicrobial agents at variable degree. It was observed that the most sensitive antibiotic is Gentamicin. Ciprofloxacin and Amoxicillin were found to be most resistant drugs and Enrofloxacin and Colistin sulfate are intermediate. These findings would certainly help the veterinarians to select the correct antibiotics against Shigella infections.