Veterinary Microbiology

Project Name: Potentiality of phytobiotics to counter prevalent bacteria  vis-a-vis to replace use of antibiotics in poultry diet in West Bengal

Finding: In poultry industry antibiotics are used in diet in sub-therapeutic level to prevent illness which may select for antimicrobial resistance in the commensal bacteria present in the gut. An urgent need to develop an alternative approach for the poultry farmers was felt because the antibiotic resistant bacteria are emerging as a potent health threat in the community. In the proposed project attempt will be taken to develop a phytobiotic which can act against the common pathogenic bacteria of poultry. The study was conducted whether addition of the phytobiotic in diet of experimental poultry could maintain the normal growth performance and whether it has any effect on intestinal microbial population.

Salient achievements

• Occurrence of Salmonella and coli was higher in healthy poultry than cattle and pigs in studied samples collected from West Bengal
• Moderate occurrence of Klebsiella was detected in studied healthy pigs in West Bengal
• AmpC gene was detected as most prevalent antimicrobial resistance genes among the studied ESBL and AmpC -producing coli and Salmonella isolates followed by CTX-M in poultry and cattle in West Bengal
• bla_CTX-M was detected as most prevalent antimicrobial resistance genes among the studied ESBL and AmpC -producing coli isolates in pigs
• Ocimum sanctum (50 mg/ml) and Nyctanthes arbor-tristis (50 mg/ml) were found better effective than Spondiadulchis, Solanum torvum, and Bryophyllumpinnatum against ESBL-producing E. coli isolated from poultry
• Nano-Zinc having the particle sized ranged within 90-100 nm (20 mg/ml) produced better anti-bacterial activity against ESBL-producing coli isolated from poultry

• MIC values of studied plant extracts and nano-particles against ESBL-producing E. coli were detected

Detection of dietary supplementation effect of selected phytobiotics (Ocimum sanctum Linn. and Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) on intestinal microbial population, growth, nutrient utilization and feed conversion efficiency of poultry was detected. Four hundred and twenty broiler chickens of 1 day of age were randomly divided into 6 treatments with 7 replicates of 10 birds each. Feeding of Ocimum sanctum Linn. reduced pathogenic gut bacterial population, increased beneficial bacterial population and increased growth, feed conversion efficiency of the birds.

Project Name: A multi-stakeholder approach towards operationalizing antibiotic stewardship in India’s pluralistic rural health system (OASIS is the acronym of the project)

Findings: A multi-institutional project was initiated by Dr Indranil Samanta, Department of Veterinary Microbiology with London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Royal Veterinary College (RVC), Institute of Development Studies, UK; Public Health Foundation of India regarding value chain analysis of antibiotic usage in human and animals. The work started with formative research in two rural locations in district South 24 Parganas in West Bengal. During this phase qualitative interview of the stakeholders was conducted to know use of antibiotics in animals, mapping the pharmaceutical supply and value chains for human and animal antibiotic use. It was followed by stakeholder analysis, mapping community platforms for behavioral communication. A participatory study with the animal health care providers in West Bengal was conducted to find out the effect of COVID on animal health care services. The project team has held extensive consultations with groups of veterinary, medical, pharmaceutical and high-level government stakeholders. All groups have strongly recommended clear areas for interventions including development of tier-wise guideline for antibiotic use in human and livestock health starting with para-professionals (these do not exist currently for paraveterinarians). Moving forward with these recommendations, the project team has constituted two Expert Committees to work with the project team on developing a set of guidelines focusing primary level of the health care system for human and livestock health. The syndromic triage guidelines developed for common clinical conditions in backyard livestock will help paraprofessionals (paraveterinarians) to identify symptoms, refer to a formal veterinary professional when appropriate and determine when and how to optimize use of antibiotics. A feasibility study for guideline use wasconducted in a selected district in West Bengal to determine acceptability, ease of use, and practicality of the Syndromic Antibiotic Use Guidelines.