What is it about?
Nepal’s poultry industry has experienced remarkable growth in the last decade, but farm biosafety and biosecurity measures are often overlooked by farmers. As a result, farms often suffer from sporadic and regular outbreaks of many diseases, impacting production and creating public health challenges. Poor management practices, including overuse of antibiotics for prophylaxis and therapeutics, can enhance the spread of poultry diseases by propagating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that is threatening poultry and human health.
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Why is it important?
We assessed biosafety, biosecurity risks and AMR stewardship in sixteen poultry farms located in four districts: Ramechhap, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk, and Kavre. Risk assessment and AMR stewardship evaluation questionnaires were administered to formulate biosafety and biosecurity compliance matrix (BBCM).Oral and cloacal samples from the poultry were collected, pooled, and screened for eight poultry pathogens using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests. Based on BBCM, we identified the highest BBCM score of 67% obtained by Sindhupalchowk farm 4 and the lowest of 12% by Kavre farm 3. Most of the farms (61.6%) followed general poultry farming practices, only half had clean and well-maintained farms. Lowest scores were obtained for personnel safety standard (42.4%) and rodent control (3.1%). At least one of the screened pathogens were detected in all farms. Mycoplasma gallisepticum was the most common pathogen detected in all but three farms, followed by Mycoplasma synoviae. More than half of the farmers considered AMR a threat, over 26% of them used antibiotics as a preventive measure and 81% did not consider withdrawal period for antibiotics prior to processing of their meat products. Additionally, antibiotics classified as “Watch” and “Restrict” by the WHO were frequently used by the farmers to treat bacterial infections in their farms.
Perspectives
Poor biosafety and biosecurity measures on poultry farms can lead to introduction and spread of bacterial and viral diseases. Regular monitoring and testing, an important component of implementing strict biosecurity and biosafety measures, are essential for detecting and containing infections in farms. Poultry farms with compromised biosafety and biosecurity compliance often suffer from various prevalent bacterial and viral infections such as Mycoplasma, IBD and IAV- affecting overall poultry health and lowering production.
Dr Dibesh Karmacharya
Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Antimicrobial stewardship hindered by inadequate biosecurity and biosafety practices, and inappropriate antibiotics usage in poultry farms of Nepal–A pilot study, PLoS ONE, March 2024, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296911.
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