Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Public Health Importance of Salmonella Isolated from Raw Chicken Egg in MizanTeferi Town, South West Ethiopia

Background: Salmonella is a leading cause of food-borne illness in many countries with eggs and poultry being important vehicles of transmission and display high natural susceptibility levels to the most commonly used antibacterial agents. The study was carried out to estimate the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of Salmonella spp. isolated from fresh raw chicken eggs collected from MizanTeferi town, South Eastern, Ethiopia. Results: : From the total of 366 eggs examined for Salmonella spp , 27(7.4%) were positive, of which 23 (6.3%) and 4 (1.1%) were isolated from egg shell and egg content, respectively. The prevalence of Salmonella spp. in egg and egg content from open market (7.6%), (1.6%) was significantly higher than the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in poultry farm (7.1%), (0.5%) (P<0.05) respectively. Ciprofloxacin (85.2%) showed maximum susceptibility, followed by tetracycline (77.7%) and gentamycin (66.6%). Clindamycin was the most resisted (51.8%), followed by ampicillin (44.4%), amoxicillin (40.7%) and erythromycin (33.3%). Most of the isolates are resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents tested. Questionnaire survey was also carried out on 200 consumers and egg sellers (100 from each group). Their preferred form of egg consumption revealed that 67.5% egg consumers preferred only cooked eggs while 32.5% egg consumers showed preference for raw eggs. Twenty nine (44.6%) respondents who practiced eating raw eggs faced problems like nausea and vomiting, abdominal discomfort and diarrhea, while thirty six (55.4%) faced no problems following raw eggs consumption. Conclusion: To minimize the potential contamination of the egg by the pathogen, they should be properly handled, transported, cooked and kept appropriately. In general, public health measures such as improved food hygiene and health education are of paramount importance.