Higher level of Quinolones residue in poultry meat and eggs; an alarming public health issue in Nepal

Background With extensive use of antimicrobial agents in poultry production to prevent and treat diseases and as growth promoters, there has been an increase in antibiotic residue in the poultry meat and eggs. Quinolones are one of the highly prioritized, critically important drugs, whose residue in poultry can cause transmission of resistant zoonotic pathogens to humans. This study was conducted to assess the qualitative and quantitative residue of the quinolone in meat and eggs supplied to Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Methods A standard questionnaire was used to identify the trend of antibiotic application in the poultry industry. Epicollect+ android application was used for the survey. A total of 120 meat samples and 120 egg samples were collected from the specified five sectors. Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbant Assay was employed to screen antimicrobial residues in the samples. Only the samples with antimicrobial residues above maximum residual limit value were quantified with High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Result About 88.33% of chicken meat and 80% egg samples were positive for Quinolone residue. Three meat samples from Kathmandu had residues above the maximum residue level (MRL). One sample each from commercial and education sector showed Enrofloxacin residues while 1 sample from the health sector showed residues of both Enrofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin. The egg samples of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur district contained 83.9%, 76.9% and 65% Quinolone residues respectively. While the eggs collected from household sector had the highest (100%) Quinolone residues than eggs from any other sectors followed by the lowest (66.6%) in eggs from the education sector (p=0.005). Conclusion A high level of Quinolone residue in the chicken meat and egg samples in the study indicates the imprudent and haphazard use of antibiotics which is a cause of emergence of antimicrobial resistant poultry pathogens alarming the potential transmission of resistance to human pathogens. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The study was funded by Colorado State University however, we don't have any funds to publish this manuscript. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Ethical approval for this study was reviewed and granted by the Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), Kathmandu, Nepal I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding and principal authors. * BMD : Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate CDC : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention DNA : Deoxy-ribose Nucleic Acid ELISA : Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay HPLC : High Performance Liquid Chromatography MRL : Maximum Residue Limit NHRC : Nepal Health Research Council OD : Optical Density SE : Standard Error USP : United State Pharmacopeia UV : Ultra Violet WHO : World Health Organization