The most common reason of chick death is omphalitis, which can be economically
significant and usually manifests in the first week following hatching. The current
study aimed to isolate and identify the bacterial species associated with omphalitis
from dead broilers to evaluate the occurrence of omphalitis and the antibiotic
susceptibility toward these bacterial isolates using the standard Kirby-Bauer test.
Results of this study showed that the overall prevalence of omphalitis was 52.6%
and the frequency of isolation of Gram-negative bacteria was 58.15%. Also, results
demonstrated that 117 distinct bacterial strains were identified in 60 dead birds that
were positive for omphalitis and mixed infections. The frequency of isolation of
bacterial species was Staphylococcus aureus (78.3%), Escherichia coli (76.7%),
Klebsiella spp., (20.0%), Pseudomonas spp., (6.7%), Shigella spp., (5%); Proteus
spp., (5%) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (3.3%). S. aureus, E. coli and Klebsiella
spp. exhibited high resistance rate to several antimicrobial agents with high rate of
multi-drug resistant. In addition, the average of multiple antibiotic resistance index
was 0.75, 0.59 and 0.62 for S. aureus, E. coli and Klebsiella spp., respectively. In
summary, omphalitis is quite prevalent, and so are the fatalities linked to it. The
occurrence of multi drug resistant pathogens in chicks suffering from omphalitis is a
problem as these pathogens can spread to humans and animals, complicating the
treatment of bacterial infections. To control and prevent such infections, greater
efforts must be made to create strict hygiene standards. This would result in a
general reduction in the use of antimicrobials in chicken farms.

 

العنوان

Pakistan Veterinary Journal

الناشر

Pakistan Veterinary Journal

بلد الناشر

باكستان

Indexing

Scopus

معامل التأثير

6,5

نوع المنشور

Both (Printed and Online)

المجلد

46

السنة

2026

الصفحات

1782-1790