Bacteria-causing food poisoning now resistance to 6 antibiotics

Eat your chicken and be merry. But bear this in mind: salmonella, a bacteria that can kill off chickens can also infect you, causing food poisoning.

And it is increasingly becoming resistance to antibiotics.

A study has found high antimicrobial resistance of salmonella from commercial laying chicken. The results have been reported at the 3rd Scientific Conference of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

Researchers identified a total 200 poultry isolates and found them resistance to conventional antibiotics.

Up to 20% of the samples were resistant to ampicillin, 47% were resistance to gentamicin.

With tetracycline, 75% showed resistance and 77% were resistant to Nalidixic acid, an antibiotic used in treating urinary tract infections caused by some bacteria.

In 75% of the salmonella samples showed resistance to sulphamethoxazole, commonly known as septrin, and up to 90% were resistant to ciprofloxacin— an antibiotic used to treat bone and joint infections, intra abdominal infections, certain type of infectious diarrhea, respiratory tract infections, skin infections, typhoid fever, and urinary tract infections, among others.

Strains of salmonella resistant to antimicrobials have become a serious health problem in Nigeria, the researchers say.

To reduce poultry death from salmonella, farmers resorted to use of antimicrobials without sound “diagnostic advice”, the researchers say.

Reports have emerged of widespread resistance to antimicrobials amongst salmonella isolated from poultry in Plateau state.

The study recommends “strict regulation on antimicrobial use and regular monitoring of trends of resistance among bacteria isolated from animals and humans in order to inform public policy.”