Public health aspects of bacterial drug resistance in modern battery and town/village poultry in the tropics.

A correlation of antibiotic use and drug resistance was found among Escherichia coli strains isolated from battery poultry in the University of Ibadan Teaching and Research Farm. All the E. coli strains from battery birds were resistant to Tetracycline, Streptomycin and Sulphonamide (Sulphafurazole) by the disc sensitivity test. In contrast, all the strains isolated from free range town and village poultry were sensitive to the range of drugs tested, while the Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations of the drugs against these free range isolates were the same as those for the control E. coli strain N.C.T.C. 10418. Ninety-eight to 100% of the strains from both battery poultry and from town/village birds were sensitive to Colistin, Chloramphenicol, Nitrofurantoin and Nalidixic Acid. Since antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli from animal sources are known to be indistinguishable from those found in man, the indiscriminate use of antibiotics is potentially capable of giving rise to a higher incidence of intractable infection with resistant bacteria. These drug-resistant organisms may be transmitted from animal to man, and complicate the therapy of human diseases.