Hygiene and environmental sanitation consequences on the spread of Klebsiella species and its antibiotic resistance in a ruminant animal farm

Abstract

This study assessed the sanitation and hygiene practices in an animal farm through walkthrough observation and one-on-one interviews, monitored the levels of selected air parameters in animal houses using portable air samplers, identified the Klebsiella species from the bacterial population in the nose and skin of selected ruminant animals, and skin of consented animal handlers; and examined the antibiotic sensitivity test (AST) on the confirmed Klebsiella (K.) isolates following standard procedures. Most handlers (77.78%) wash their hands before starting work without soap (55.56 %), with well (77.78 %) or spent water (22.22 %). A total of 181 and 132 distinct bacterial colonies and gram-negative bacteria species, respectively, were obtained. The highest bacteria count (28cfu/ml) was from Cattle nasal swab samples, while the lowest (17cfu/ml each) was from the skin samples of Goats and Sheep. Also, the highest gram-negative bacteria (24cfu/ml) was from sheep skin swab samples, while the least was from goat nasal swab samples. Eighteen of thirty-two presumed K. species were confirmed with colony characteristics and biochemical tests. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was prevalent in 77.7% of the confirmed K. species. Two-thirds of Klebsiella isolates in goats and cattle showed multidrug resistance, compared with 60% in Sheep and 100 % in handlers. Klebsiella's estimated resistance percentages against Penicillin, Cefuroxime, Ceftazidime, Nitrofurantoin, and Gentamicin were 100, 67.7, 50, 38.9, and 22.2, respectively. This study found a significant gram-negative bacteria load in the skin swabs of animal handlers, which will only worsen with inadequate personal hygiene and poor sanitation.