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

Analysis of small ruminants’ pastoral management practices as risk factors of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) spread in Turkana District, Kenya

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an emerging viral disease spreading throughout Kenya and East Africa causing major losses in the small stock. This study is an attempt to evaluate small stock management practices in Turkana pastoral system, Kenya as predictors of PPR outbreaks. Information on the social practices and the occurrence of PPR outbreaks was obtained by participatory techniques. The small stock management practices, evaluated as factors, in a previous study were simultaneously analyzed with seasons and administrative divisions as the independent risk factors for the presence or absence of PPR outbreaks in 142 Adakars (villages) as the dependent variable. Analyses were carried out for the years 2009 and 2010 combined as one data set and considered as longitudinal repeated data. In the analyses, the presence or absence of PPR outbreaks was the dependent variable. Data were further analyzed separately disaggregated by season where the presence or absence of PPR outbreaks in a season was considered as the dependent variable. All analyses utilized multivariable logistical regression analyses. In the longitudinal analysis, season was the only significant factor associated with PPR outbreak. Disaggregating the data by season revealed that certain seasonal-specific livestock management activities increased the risk of reporting PPR outbreaks: (1) sharing water sources leading to social aggregation of young stock in one point (Factor 3) (odds ratio (OR) = 2.0) in season 2 (wet season) of 2009; (2) sick dams left to nurse their young kids/lambs (Factor 7) (OR=1.62) in the same season in 2010. The finding of diverse risk factors in the same seasons across years suggests temporal heterogeneity in the distribution and occurrence of the determinants of PPR in the Turkana ecosystem. The study discusses the implications of these findings on disease control

A Retrospective Study of Factors associated with Newcastle Disease Outbreaks in Village Indigenous Chickens

Although the epidemiology of Newcastle disease in commercial poultry systems is well documented, its ecology in indigenous birds, especially in tropics, is not adequately reported. The objective of this study, therefore, was to determine the risk factors associated with occurrence of Newcastle disease in village indigenous chickens. The study was carried out in five agro –ecological zones and seventy five households keeping indigenous chickens. Farmers were randomly selected and assessed on whether they understood Newcastle disease including knowing its local name and clinical signs manifested by the affected birds. Those who did not fit into the above category were excluded from further interviews. Data on management practices, incidence of diseases and risk factors associated with Newcastle disease outbreaks were collected using a questionnaire and analysed using statistical package. The prevalence rate of Newcastle disease was highest (93.8%) in the dry zone (Low midland 5) and lowest (50%) in cool wet zone (Lower Highland 1). Newcastle disease outbreaks were significantly associated with the following factors namely: confinement of birds in all ecological zones except in lower midland 5 where most cases were reported without confinement; mode of disposal of infected birds, carcasses and poultry faecal matter; dry seasons in the dry zones just before the rains; wind conditions; short intermittent temperature changes and the restocking of farms with chickens from the markets (P0.05) associated with Newcastle disease outbreaks. The responses varied across the seasons and between the agro – ecological zones. In conclusion, the study has shown that several factors namely: confinement; cold or very hot temperatures; winds; introduction of market birds and disposal of manure and sick birds are major risk factors to occurrence of Newcastle disease in indigenous chickens. It is recommended that flock owners be educated on Newcastle disease transmission and prevention.Key – words: risk factors, agro–ecological zones, confinement, hot and cold season

Occurrence of dermatomycosis (ringworm) due to Trichophyton verrucosumin dairy calves and its spread to animal attendants : case report

Persistent dermatomycosis (ringworm) caused by Trichophyton verrucosum affected 20 dairy calves aged between 3 months and 1 year and housed together. The infection also spread to 2 animal attendants working among the calves. The major clinical lesions observed on the affected calves were extensive alopecia and/or circumscribed thick hairless skin patches affecting the head, neck, flanks and limbs. The observed lesions persisted for more than 17 weeks and most of the calves did not respond to topical treatment with various anti-fungal drugs within the anticipated period of 9 weeks. Two animal attendants developed skin lesions that were circumscribed and itchy and there was good response to treatment following the application of anti-fungal skin ointment. Although ringworm in dairy animals in Kenya has not previously been associated with spread to humans, the potential is evident from this report

Mitochondrial DNA variation of indigenous goat populations from Peste-des-petits-ruminants outbreak in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

This study was conducted to investigate the genetic diversity at d-loop of mitochondrial DNA and establish the possible maternal lineages of indigenous goat breeds in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo). Phylogenetic relationships among and within 111 goats from three indigenous populations from a peste-des-petits ruminants outbreak in South Kivu, Eastern of Democratic Republic of the Congo and 22 goats sequences from the gene bank were analysed using mitochondrial control region sequences (d-loop region). The results show that a total of 120 segregating sites, 56 haplotypes and 124 mutations were found in a 1220-bp sequence. The mean haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity were 0.971±0.007 and 0.011±0.002, respectively with the overall number of nucleotide differences of 10.73. The phylogenetic analysis showed that all goat sequences were clustered into two haplogroups (A and B), of which haplogroup A was the commonest. The global analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), incorporating all the three populations independent of any hierarchical clustering, indicated that 83.22% of the total genetic variation present in studied goats was explained by genetic differences between individuals (pv= 0.327), 11.18% among groups (pv=0.000*) and only 5.60% of the variation was attributed to genetic differences between populations (pv=0.003*). These results conclude that there are high levels of intrapopulation diversity in Mwenga-Shabunda, Fizi and Kalehe goats and the weak phylogeographic structuring, thus, suggested that there existed strong gene flow among goat populations probably caused by extensive trans-border movement of goats in the pas