Transmissible drug resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from poultry and their carcasses in Iran.

A high prevalence of multiple antibiotic resistance was observed in populations of Escherichia coli isolated from fecal samples and the carcasses of poultry in a University farm. Almost all of the cultures were resistant to tetracycline, streptomycin, ampicillin and sulfoamide. Association between antibiotics used for prophylaxis or growth promotion and isolation of E. coli with resistance to these antibiotics was observed. One hundred of 648 (15.43%) of resistant cultures of E. coli isolated from fecal samples and the carcasses were capable of transferring resistance determinants to a laboratory strain of E. coli K-12.