Isolation, Serovar Identification, and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Avibacterium paragallinarum from Chickens in China from 2019 to 2020

Infectious coryza is an acute infectious respiratory disease in chickens that is caused by Avibacterium paragallinarum (A. paragallinarum). Infectious coryza has major economic effects due to decreased egg production in growing birds and slowed growth in broilers. In this study, we isolated and identified 40 strains of A. paragallinarum from chickens that showed typical clinical signs of coryza in part of China from 2019 to 2020. Using a hemagglutination-inhibition test, 11 isolates were identified as serovar A, 10 isolates were identified as serovar B, and 19 isolates were identified as serovar C. Antimicrobial sensitivity tests showed that high minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were encountered for compounds sulfamethoxine sodium and oxytetracycline hydrochloride. Especially, of the 40 A. paragallinarum isolates, 30% had an MIC value of compound sulfamethoxine sodium of 64 μg/mL, 10% of 128 μg/mL, and 15% of 256 μg/mL. For oxytetracycline hydrochloride, 85% of isolates showed MIC values of 64 μg/mL or more. Excitingly, the MIC values of β-lactamase (amoxicillin, ampicillin, and ceftiofur) were low, with 77.5%, 70%, and 92.5% of isolates having an MIC value of ≤1 μg/mL, respectively. Our results may provide a reference for the treatment of infectious coryza.