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.

Title

Pak Vet J

Publisher

Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Publisher Country

Pakistan

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

6.5

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

46

Year

2026

Pages

373-381