Genotypic analysis of Escherichia coli strains from poultry carcasses and their susceptibilities to antimicrobial agents

Plasmid profiling and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysi s were used to genotype 50 Escherichia coil strains from poultry carcasses. Thirty different plasmid profiles were evident, and clustering of the AFLP data showed that they were a distinctly heterogeneous group of strains. Su sceptibility testing against five antimicrobial agents used in the South Af rican poultry industry showed all strains to be susceptible to danofloxacin and colistin, while the majority (96%) were resistant to two tetracyclines .