klebsiella species are one of the key issues that have been steadily rising in intensive poultry production, causing great economic losses. The main cause of this uncomfortable condition is the increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics and has food safety risks because it can act as a source of contamination for chicken meat and eggs.
Aim: the present study aimed to isolation and identification of klebsiella spp. and Molecular screening of antibiotics resistance genes in the isolates.
Material and methods: Lung, kidney, liver, and intestine was collected from 50 healthy chicken isolation of klebsiella spp. Their identification was done by culture characters and biochemical tests. All Isolated Klebsiella spp. were tested for their sensitivity to 12 commonly used antibiotics in chicken farms with the disc diffusion test on Mueller-Hinton Agar. Then 12 klebsiella species were screened to find Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) encoding gene by polymerase chain reaction.
Results: Twenty-Eight klebsiella species obtained from 50 healthy chickens differentiated into 21/28 (75%) Klebsiella pneumoniae and 7/28 (25%) Klebsiella oxytoca. Antimicrobial sensitivity testing revealed that all isolated klebsiella species were fully resistant to oxytetracycline, penicillin and trimethoprim, followed by cefadroxil (76%), doxycycline (24%), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (19%), chloramphenicol (14%) and cefotaxime (5%). While, they were fully susceptible to amikacin, tobramycin and norfloxacin. The PCR results for detection of ESBL encoding gene, showed that all klebsiella species (9 klebsiella pneumoniae and 3 klebsiella oxytoca) have bla SHV (100%). bla TEM (91.7%), and bla CTX-M (83.4%).
CONCLUSION: All Klebsiella species were classified as MDR bacteria and harbored ESBL genes. strict regulations of the use of antibiotics in veterinary therapy is urgently required to minimize the emergence of resistant bacteria in animals which may increase the public health problem.