| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: resistance to antimicrobials poses a
threat to human and animal health. This study
aimed to determine the prevalence of resistant
coliforms in poultry cloacal samples collected from
different poultry systems in Arusha and Moshi
districts, Tanzania. Methods: ten administrative
wards were randomly chosen in Moshi and Arusha
urban districts, with a random selection of one
representative farm in each ward per production
system (extensive, semi-intensive, intensive, and
broiler systems). Per farm, 10 chickens were
sampled using cloacal swabs. Samples were tested
for the presence of coliforms using MacConkey agar
without or with tetracycline, ciprofloxacin,
ceftazidime, and Imipenem. R software was used
for data analysis. Results: of the 80 farms targeted,
samples were collected from 79 farms representing
a total of 746 samples, of which 648 (86.8%) had
coliforms corresponding to 74 of the 79 sampled
farms. There was no significant difference in the
overall prevalence of coliforms between Moshi
(86%) and Arusha districts (87%) (p=0.81). The
overall proportions of resistant coliforms in Arusha
and Moshi varied depending on each antimicrobial
type. The prevalence of coliforms resistant to
tetracycline (95%) across all farm types in both
districts was higher compared to ciprofloxacin
(72%), imipenem (71%), and ceftazidime (84%)
(p<0.0001). The median counts of coliform
resistance (in log cfu) ranged from 4 to 10, with no
significant distinctions between antimicrobial
types. Conclusion: there is a widespread presence of
antimicrobial resistant coliforms in poultry
production systems. High tetracycline resistance
was observed across all farm types in both districts. | en_US |
