Occurrence of Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus faecalis in Chicken Flocks

The current study aimed to determine the occurrence and antibiotic resistance pattern profile of some Enterococcus isolates recovered from chicken flocks as well as detection of vanA gene representative for vancomycin resistant enterococci. A total of 150 cloacal swabs were collected from chicken flocks including broilers and layers flocks (75 samples per each) from apparently healthy birds. The obtained results clarified that the overall isolation rate of enterococci in examined chicken flocks was 17.3% (20 isolates out of 150 cloacal swabs) and the isolation rates were 9.33 and 17.33% in broilers and layers flocks, respectively. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed against 8 antibiotics discs using disk diffusion method. Results of molecular characterization of 20 Enterococcus isolates recovered from chicken samples showed that all isolates were positive for presence of Enterococcus 16S rRNA and E. faecalis 16S rRNA, while only 8 isolates were positive for presence of vanA gene representative for vancomycin resistant enterococci.