Prevalence of multidrug resistant Avibacterium paragallinarum in chickens

Chicken represents an essential source of animal-derived protein, essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. Avibacterium paragallinarum (A. paragallinarum) causes an important respiratory disease in chicken known as infectious coryza which is characterized by low feed conversion ratio, drop in egg production and less marketability. This study aimed at isolation, and identification of A. paragallinarum from chicken of different ages at different localities in Sharkia Governorate, Egypt using different diagnostic methods including ELISA, bacteriological culture, and PCR. Furthermore, antimicrobial resistance profiling of the recovered A. paragallinarum isolates was screened using the disk diffusion method. The obtained results in the present study revealed isolation and identification of A. paragallinarum from chicken with coryza-like symptoms from different localities in Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. PCR screening of A. paragallinarum-specific 16S ribosomal RNA revealed that 12 (24%) of the coryza-suspected cases were confirmed to be caused by A. paragallinarum. Samples from Menia-Alkamh had the highest prevalence rate (6%) of A. paragallinarum, while that originated from Belbies city had the lowest prevalence rate at 2%. Conjunctiva had the highest prevalence among the examined tissues. Recovered A. paragallinarum isolates showed multidrug resistance profiling with high sensitivity to neomycin and gentamicin. In conclusion, combination of ELISA, bacteriological culture, and PCR is highly recommended for an accurate diagnosis of infectious coryza in chickens. The use of neomycin, and gentamicin is highly suggested in the control of infectious coryza in chickens.