REVIEW article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. One Health
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1672628
Prevalence, distribution, and antimicrobial resistance profiles of bacterial pathogens in chicken meat samples from India: A systematic review
Provisionally accepted
- 1The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- 2University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Introduction: Chicken meat is a widely consumed source of protein in India but increasing reports of bacterial contamination and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) raise significant public health concerns. This systematic review aims to assess the prevalence of key bacterial pathogens in chicken meat across India and their resistance profiles. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was carried out across PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases for studies published up to August 2024. Additionally, gray literature was retrieved using Google Scholar. Studies that identified bacterial isolates from chicken meat samples in India and reported antimicrobial susceptibility results were selected for inclusion. Data were extracted on bacterial species, sample location, antibiotics tested, and resistance rates using Microsoft Excel. A heatmap and summary tables were generated to visualize resistance trends. Results: A total of 32 studies were included in this review, with Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. emerging as the most frequently detected pathogens. High resistance rates were observed to ampicillin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, and streptomycin. The overall multidrug resistance (MDR) rate exceeded 60% for several species. Resistance genes such as bla, tet, and sul families were frequently reported, along with virulence genes like invA and icaA. Conclusion: The widespread presence of multidrug-resistant bacteria in Indian chicken meat underscores the urgent need for robust surveillance, regulatory action on antibiotic use in poultry, and adoption of a One Health approach to mitigate AMR transmission.
Keywords: antimicrobial resistance, Chicken meat, One Health, India, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, multidrug resistance
Received: 24 Jul 2025; Accepted: 15 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sajish Valiparambil, Uzzaman, Aramvalarthan and Asaduzzaman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Muhammad Asaduzzaman, muhammad.asaduzzaman@medisin.uio.no
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