ANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY OF FASTIDIOUS AND NON-FASTIDIOUS BACTERIA FROM AFRICAN SWINE FEVER PIGS TO STANDARD ANTIBIOTICS AND ‘LUWINE’

Abstract

Background and Objective: African swine fever is a highly contagious viral disease that affects domestic pigs and it is characterized by fever, blotching of skin, hemorrhage of the lymph nodes, internal organs and the gastrointestinal tract. Management of viral diseases require the immune system of the organism and the use of antibiotics to control secondary infections. This study determined the antibiotic susceptibility of fastidious and non-fastidious bacteria isolated from pigs infected with African swine fever to standard antibiotics and ʻLuwineʼ (a local herbal medicine prepared from the root of Sarcocephalus latifolius and dry bark peels of Pseudocedrela kotschyi used by farmers to control Africa swine fever in Navrongo, Ghana. Materials and Methods: The disc diffusion method was used for the antibiotic susceptibility test. The non-fastidious and fastidious bacteria were tested against 8 antibiotics and ʻLuwineʼ. Results: The non-fastidious and fastidious bacteria were all resistant to ʻLuwineʼ. The non-fastidious bacteria were highly susceptible to azithromycin (100%), gentamicin (100%) and amoxycillin/clavulanic acid (80%) but resistant to teicoplanin (70%). The fastidious bacteria were highly susceptible to gentamicin (70%) and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (70%) but resistant to ceftriaxone (100%), teicoplanin (100%) and chloramphenicol (80%). Intermediate resistant occurred for all the antibiotics except azithromycin and gentamicin for non-fastidious bacteria. Intermediate resistant also occurred for all the antibiotics except ceftriaxone and teicoplanin for fastidious bacteria. Multidrug resistant occurred between the non-fastidious (50%) and fastidious (90%) bacteria. The non-fastidious bacteria exhibited 8 different antibiotic resistant patterns. The fastidious bacteria exhibited 10 different antibiotic resistant patterns. Multiple antibiotic index (MAR) ranged from 0.13-0.50 and 0.25-0.75 for non-fastidious and fastidious bacteria, respectively. Conclusion: The non-fastidious bacteria were generally more resistant than the fastidious bacteria. ʻLuwineʼ was not effective against the bacteria associated with African swine fever infection. Among the antibiotics, gentamicin was the best for controlling bacteria associated with African swine fever pigs