Isolation and Characterisation of E.coli Infection from the Bronchial Plug of Broiler Birds Associated with Respiratory Diseases

The present research work was carried out to investigate the incidence of concurrent presence of Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection in broiler birds affected with respiratory distress. Detection of avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) was performed primarily on the basis of isolation, culture and colony characteristics. Further, it was affirmatively diagnosed by PCR assaytarging four virulence genes i.e. iss, papC, tsh and vat. Antibiogram of E. coli was also conducted to estimate the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in studied poultry farm. Out of 30 tissue samples of each different poultry farms processed for bacterial isolation, a 100%prevalence of E. coli infection was found in all the 30 samples. The isolates were found highly sensitive (100%) to antibiotic disc colistin (Methane sulphonate) followed by ceftriaxone (93.33%), gentamicin (80%), levofloxacin (76.67%), co-trimoxazole (63.33%) and amoxyclav (10.00%). These results highlight the high prevelence of the bacteria and differential levels of antibiotic resistance in poultry.