title: Antimicrobial-resistant Klebsiella species isolated from free-range chicken samples in an informal settlement.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sub-therapeutic doses of antimicrobial agents are administered routinely to poultry to aid growth and to prevent disease, with prolonged exposure often resulting in bacterial resistance. Crossover of antibiotic resistant bacteria from poultry to humans poses a risk to human health.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, 17 chicken samples collected from a vendor operating in an informal settlement in the Cape Town Metropolitan area, South Africa were screened for antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacilli using the Kirby Bauer disk diffusion assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  IN TOTAL, SIX ANTIBIOTICS WERE SCREENED: ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, nalidixic acid, tetracycline and trimethoprim. Surprisingly, Klebsiella ozaenae was identified in 96 and K. rhinoscleromatis in 6 (n=102) of the samples tested. Interestingly, ∼40% of the isolated Klebsiella spp. showed multiple resistance to at least three of the six antibiotics tested.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Klebsiella ozaenae and K. rhinoscleromatis cause clinical chronic rhinitis and are almost exclusively associated with people living in areas of poor hygiene.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Virology Laboratory, Medical Microbiology Cluster, Department of Medical Biosciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of the Western Cape, South Africa.
authors.forename: Burtram C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Fielding
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mnabisa
authors.forename: Pieter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Gouws
authors.forename: Thureyah
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morris