ABSTRACT
Escherichia coli is one of the most important food borne microorganisms that cause disease in animals and humans worldwide. Not all strains cause disease, but they are useful for testing of contamination of food and water and have been adopted as indicator organism for antimicrobial drug resistance among commensal gram-negative organisms. Antimicrobial drug resistance is associated with inappropriate use of veterinary antimicrobials in food animals especially in poultry production. LBM is a place located in markets in urban settlements where birds are housed and sold to the public. Poultry vendors try to keep their birds healthy through the use of antimicrobials. Hence, the need to study the resistance in E. coli isolated from these birds. Apparently healthy local chickens sold for food at live bird markets in Yola North and Yola South LGAs were examined for E. coli and their resistance to eight important antimicrobials. E. coli (n= 56) were isolated using Eosine Methylene Blue (EMB) and identified with conventional biochemical tests. Microbact 12 E was used to confirm 49 of the 56 isolates to be E. coli. In addition, knowledge and practices of the poultry vendors in LBMs about antimicrobials use was assessed. The results were as follows: 95.8% of the poultry vendors in LBM had not attended any formal training on poultry production and health, and 79.2% did not keep records of drugs they use. Hygiene score for cages showed 79% of cages were mildly contaminated/ dusty, 54% of drugs they used were purchased from the open markets without prescription and 68% of poultry vendors used their experience to determine the dosage for treatment of their birds. Only 10.4% of vendors consulted a veterinarian for the health needs of their poultry; 56% of poultry vendors did not practice hand washing and 98% did not use protective clothing such as coveralls. All the 49 E. coli isolates were resistant to Ceftiofur (100%), Erythromycin (100%) and Sulfamethoxazole (100%). The Percent resistance to other drugs were as follows: Nalidixic acid (69.4%), Ciproflaxin (67.3%), Tetracycline (67.3%), Chloramphenicol (49%), and Gentamicin (34.7%). All the isolates were multi drug resistant showing 16 different patterns with each isolate being resistant to at least four drugs. The high prevalence of resistance among commensal E. coli in local chickens could be a significant source of resistance genes to other bacteria that share the same environment which could also be a source of direct contamination of poultry meat and LBM workers. Key Words: Antimicrobial Resistance, E. coli, Poultry and Live bird Market