Prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of thermophilic Campylobacter isolates from free range domestic duck (Cairina moschata) in Morogoro municipality, Tanzania
Tropical animal health production June 2009Prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of
thermophilic Campylobacter isolated from freeranging
ducks was determined in Morogoro Municipality,
Tanzania. Ninety intestinal contents from
ducks were screened for thermophilic Campylobacter
using Skirrow’s protocol. Of the Campylobacter
jejuni isolates, 50 were tested for sensitivity to 12
antibiotics. Overall prevalence of thermophilic Campylobacter
was 80%. The prevalence of Campylobacter
in adult ducks (91.3%) was significantly (p<0.05)
higher than ducklings (68.2%). The isolation rate of
C. jejuni (81.9%) was significantly (P<0.001) higher
than C. coli (18.1%). All C. jejuni isolates were
susceptible to streptomycin, nitrofurantoin and amikacin.
Forty eight percent, 74% and 82% of isolates
were resistant to cefuroxime sodium, tetracycline and
ampicillin respectively. Between 20–50% of isolates
were resistant to erythromycin, gentamicin, cloxacillin
and amoxicillin. Norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin
had lower C. jejuni resistance of 10% and 16%
respectively. C. jejuni isolates from adult ducks
showed significantly higher rates of resistance (p<
0.05) to most antibiotics than did duckling isolates.High prevalence of thermophilic Campylobacter in
ducks could be of public health significance in
Morogoro municipality. The observed multidrug
resistance in this study poses a threat of transfer of
antibiotic resistance to human pathogens because of
the close contact between ducks and human
