Practices of Usage of Antibiotics in Chicken Farming and Impact of Some of their Residues in Products Consumed in Yaoundé, Cameroon

Background: Veterinary antibiotics are drugs widely used against bacterial infections in animals such as chickens, for infections prevention or treatment. But it was noticed that foodstuffs contaminated with antimicrobial residues may cause diverse side effects to consumers, when their levels are exceeding the standards and this occurs when antibiotics are poorly used. To date, data regarding antimicrobial usage in chicken farming and their levels in chicken products are not almost available. A survey was conducted to a hundred of farmers in twenty seven localities of Yaoundé, the political capital of Cameroon to describe the usage practices of antibiotics. Tissue and egg samples were randomly collected in five markets of the same town to appraise their compliance for tetracyclines and β-lactams with standards (not exceeding maximum residues limits) using the radio-receptor technique (Charm II Test). Results: The results showed that 92.1 % of farms were using antibiotics via drinking water administration. Among the antibiotics used, tetracycline’s represent 66.7 %, quinolones 44.4 %, β-lactams 22.2 % and nitro furans 11.1 %. Diseases were recorded in the majority of the farms during the survey and they include cough (92.1 %), gomboro (27.7 %), parasitosis (25.7 %) and pullorose (25.7 %).The withdrawal period was not following by 35.6 % of the farmers, 43.5 % of farms were not respecting the administration dose while 50.5 % were not having an appropriate place for the storage of antibiotics. 61.9 % of liver, 38.1 % of gizzard, 33.3 % of muscle and 8.8 % of egg samples contained tetracycline residues above the maximum residue limits (MRLs) (200 µg /Kg for tetracycline residue and 50 µg /Kg for β-lactam). Contrarily, none of the samples were none compliance for β-lactam residues. Conclusion: These results suggest that, poorly use of antibiotics in rearing of chickens in Yaoundé (Cameroon) presents a risk for consumers. It is therefore important to inform the farmers about recommended standards for the use of these antibiotics in order to guarantee consumer food safety