Comparative bacterial drug resistance in modern battery and free-range poultry in a tropical environment

A correlation between the use of antibiotics and drug resistance was found among Escherichia coli strains isolated from modern battery poultry at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. All 1248 E coli strains from university poultry and 2196 strains from a commercial poultry farm in Ibadan were resistant to tetracycline, streptomycin and sulphonamide, the minimal inhibitory concentrations of these drugs being found to be several times those of the control E coli NCTC 10418. In contrast, all 2284 strains isolated from free-range town and village poultry were sensitive to these drugs. In the tropical developing countries with poor environmental sanitation and low personal hygiene, this situation has public health implications.