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Page No. : 1-9

ABSTRACT

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a significant pathogen of humans yet they are underreported in veterinary medicine. In the present study we characterized P. aeruginosa isolates during routine post mortem examination of poultry birds originating from poultry birds. Confirmation of suspected isolates was done by automated iden-tification system. PCR detection of virulence genes indicated toxA gene was present in 67% of the isolates and oprL gene was harboured by all isolates. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing by broth micro-dilution indicated that all isolates were resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanate, ampicillin, cefazolin, cefotaxime, cefoxitin, tetracy-cline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole with most prevalent minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) being >16/8 µg/mL, >16 µg/mL, >16 µg/ml, >32 µg/ml, >16 µg/mL, >8 µg/mL and >2/38 µg/mL, respectively. On the other hand, all the 12 isolates were sensitive to colistin (<0.5 to 2 µg/mL) and imipenem (<1 to 4 µg/ml). Resistance against amikacin, meropenem and piperacillin-tazobactam and ceftazidime were low (8 – 16%). Unlike amikacin, sensitivity profile, gentamicin, revealed that 1/3rd of the P. aeruginosa isolates were resistant (MIC: >8µg/ml) and fluoroquinolone (ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin) resistance was observed in 42-46% of the isolates. Phylogenetic analysis by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting of isolates revealed clustering patterns and tanglegram comparison identified a single primer (208) as a suitable primer for studying genetic polymorphisms in P. aeruginosa isolates of poultry origin. In the context of rarity of data, we conclude that the present study provides important information on virulence, antimicrobial susceptibility and phylogeny of P. aeruginosa of poultry origin.

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance, poultry, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, RAPD, virulence genes