Assessment of antibiotic use patterns and residues of oxytetracycline in chicken eggs in Central Region of Uganda

Abstract

Poultry sector is ever growing to provide food to the rapidly growing world population. There is a high global demand for food since production rate seems not to be meeting the demand of the fast growing population. Poultry farms have been established to provide poultry products like meat and eggs. Poultry production has got its own challenges for instance, poor biosecurity measures and increase in poultry diseases affecting many poultry farms. This has prompted high use of antimicrobials in poultry to treat disease infections, as prophylaxis, and to boost growth and yield. Inappropriate use of these antimicrobials has led to the presence of their residues in poultry products, a situation which puts many poultry consumers at great health risk like developing allergic reactions, carcinogenicity, dermatitis and most importantly promoting AMR, crossing from animals and birds to humans, a serious problem which threatens the efficacy of currently used antibiotics in clinical field to treat infections. The emergence of super bags is continuing to cause great problem in managing many clinical conditions. It is therefore crucial to investigate for the presence of antimicrobial residues in poultry products so that the necessary measures are carried out to curb the emerging threat to public health and our current medicines for treatment. The levels of Oxytetracycline drug residue in poultry layer eggs will be assessed using HPLC-UV VIS spectrophotometry. Thirty poultry farms from Kampala and Wakiso central districts of Uganda will be considered for egg sampling. This assessment will avail more evidence based-data that will be a good indicator for the practices and use of antibiotics in poultry sector. Having this information is vital in the planning and decision making process by the authorities tasked with implementing antimicrobial stewardship program and health safety.