Antibiotic resistance in bacteria isolated from indigenous slaughter chicken in Nairobi, Kenya

Background: Indigenous chicken, which end-up being consumed by humans, are normally raised free-range in villages; feeding from the ground which could easily be contaminated by substances, including bacteria, brought-in by flood water during heavy rains. The infected chickens may then serve as sources of the bacterial strains to humans who handle and/or consume them. If these bacteria are pathogenic to humans and resistant to antibiotics, it will be difficult to treat the resultant human diseases using the particular antibiotic(s).Objective: To establish antibiotic susceptibility/resistance patterns of bacteria isolated from intestines of slaughtered indigenous chickens after heavy rains in Nairobi, Kenya.Design: This was a cross-sectional study.Subjects: Bacterial isolates from chicken intestinal-content obtained from three slaughterhouses in Nairobi.Methodology: Antibiotic susceptibility testing was carried out on Escherichia, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus using disc diffusion technique.Setting: Laboratory testing at the University of Nairobi Bacteriology laboratory.Results: Escherichia isolates were highly resistant to Ampicillin, Sulphamethoxazole and Amoxicillin at 100%, 93.3%, 93.3% respectively; 13.3% were resistant to Gentamycin, while all were susceptible to Ciprofloxacin. Staphylococcus isolates were resistant to Clindamycin at 73.3%, Tetracycline at 46.7%, Chloramphenicol at 40%, but all were susceptible to Sulphamethoxazole and Erythromycin. Streptococcus isolates were resistant to Sulphamethoxazole, Clindamycin, Erythromycin, Tetracycline, Chloramphenicol at 93.3%, 86.7%, 60%, 60% and 53.3% respectively; the three isolates showed multidrug resistance.Conclusion: The study showed that antibiotic resistance is still a threat to the lives of animals/humans, if the resistance gets transferred to pathogenic bacteria it will be difficult to cure the disease caused by antibiotic resistant pathogens. It is therefore, recommended that, before prescribing antibiotics, antibiotic susceptibility testing should be done. Also, prudent usage and disposal of antibiotics is recommended in order to reduce development and transfer of resistance within and across bacteria.