In-vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of Clostridium perfringens from commercial turkey and broiler chicken origin.

The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of eight antibiotics and two anticoccidial agents were determined for Clostridium perfringens strains isolated from 26 commercial broiler farms and 22 commercial turkey farms. Isolates were obtained from the intestines of birds on the farm or as the processing plant using standard culture and identification techniques. The microbroth dilution test was used to determine the MIC for each compound. Most isolates from chickens had MICs in the range of 2-16 mg/L for tilmicosin, tylosin and virginiamycin, whereas the MICs for avilamycin, avoparcin, monensin, narasin and penicillin were < or = 1 mg/L. Most strains from chickens had high MICs (> or = 64 mg/L) and appeared to be resistant to bacitracin and lincomycin. Most turkey isolates had MICs in the range of 2-16 mg/L for bacitracin, tilmicosin, tylosin and virginiamycin, with strains exhibiting MICs < or = 1 mg/L for avilamycin, avoparcin, monensin, narasin and penicillin. Several turkey isolates had MICs > or = 64 mg/L to lincomycin. No attempt was made to associate farm usage of a particular antibiotic to the antibiograms.