Isolation, Identification and Antibiotic Resistance of Common Food Borne Bacteria in Chicken Meat in Addis Ababa and Debre Zeit Areas of Central High Lands of Ethiopia

The occurrence of pathogenic bacteria in poultry meat is of growing concern and another problem found on a global level is the continuous increase of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria isolated from food. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of pathogenic bacteria in poultry carcasses collected from Addis Ababa and Debre ziet areas and to reveal the most prevalent patterns of antimicrobial resistance in the isolated strains. A total of 30 chicken carcasses were evaluated according to standard microbiological methods. Coliform count showed that 8.99logcfu/g highest count and 5.01logcfu/g lowest. There was high prevalence of foodborne pathogenic bacteria in poultry meat. Forty percent Listeria ,56.7% Shigella, 43.3% Escherichia, 57.3% Staphylococcus and 40% Salmonella spp. of antibiotic resistant bacterial contamination was found from the 27 chicken meat samples. The study showed that most of the bacterial isolates showed high resistance to Amoxicillin (x̄= 66.24), Cefixime (x̄ =60.36), Erythromycin (x̄ = 59.92), and Tetracycline (x̄ =59.6). On the other hand, lower resistance was found to Chloramphenicol (x̄ =74.88), Ciprofloxacin (x̄=67.18) and Norfloxacin (x̄ =58.7). An alarming level of multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index of above 0.2 was observed all the bacterial isolates tested. The study revealed that these isolates represent an important reservoir in the spread of zoonotic diseases. The current finding suggest that the country urgently needs an integrated surveillance system within the entire chain, for drug-resistant pathogens isolated from poultry meat.