CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTIBIOGRAM OF ENTEROPATHOGENIC ESCHERICHIA COLI ISOLATED FROM POULTRY

One hundred sixty two samples from different poultry farms of West Bengal, India were screened for the presence of pathogenic Escherichia coli and 109 (67.3%) were found positive. Out of forty six faecal samples from ailing birds suffering from acute colibacillosis, thirty one i. e. 67.2% were positive whereas postmortem sample of intestines (62) and liver tissues (54) revealed approx 72.6% and 61.1% positivity for E. coli. Biochemical characteristic of the isolates were positive to indole, MR, nitrate and non-reactive to VP, citrate & urease test. In serotyping of the E. coli isolates mostly revealed O2, O8, O9, O19, O37, O47, O55, O69, O86, O101, O103, O109, O133, O151 and O173. The serotypes viz. O2, O8, O9, O55, O101 and O133 showed acute pathogenicity in swiss mice followed by O19, O37, O47, O69, O86, O103, O109, O151 and O173 as moderately pathogenic serotypes. Among the antimicrobial drugs tested, the sensitive drugs were cefixime (93.6%), enrofloxacin (91.8%), nitrofurantoin (88.1%) and azithromycin (85.3%). The resistant drugs were tetracycline (100%), nalidixic acid (97.2%), metronidazole (92.6%), penicillin G (88.9%), gatifloxacin (77.9%) and bacitracin (76.2%).