Mahendra PalSihin Tesfaye2026-08-072026-08-072012-06-01https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/8825A cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence, species involved and antimicrobial profile of Staphylococcus species isolated from chicken carcass, equipment and hands of apparently healthy the abattoirs workers was undertaken from November 2011 to April 2012. A total of 384 samples consisting of chicken carcass (n=340), abattoir equipment (n=24) and workers' hands (n=20) were taken from large and small scale poultry farms in Debre Zeit. A total of 187 (47.7%) Staphylococcus species were isolated from chicken carcass and immediate slaughter environment and were further identified to species level by important conventional biochemical tests. Furthermore, species identification was made by OmniLog reading. From the total of 187 staphylococci isolated, Staphylococcus aureus, S. intermedius, S. hyicus and coagulase negative staphylococci species contributed 13.8%, 9.6%, 6.8% and 17.4%, respectively. Regarding the origin of the samples, among isolates of the carcass swabs 12.4%, 9.1 %, 6.5% and 17.7% were identified as S. aureus, S. intermedius, S. hyicus and coagulase negative staphylococci, correspondingly. While in the immediate slaughter environment the rates of isolation were 25.0%, 13.6%, 9.1% and 15.9%, respectively for the aforementioned species. Consequently, statistically significant association (p= 0.022) was observed in the prevalence of S. aureus between the two types of sample origin. No statistically significant associations of the prevalence of the rest species were detected amongst the carcass and environmental samples. In the large scale farms, the prevalence of Staphylococcus species were, S. aureus 11.5%, S. intermedius 8.3%, S. hyicus 6.3% and CNS 16.7%. In the small scale farms the isolation rates of the isolates were S. aureus 16.1 %, S. intermedius 10.9%, S. hyicus 7.3% and CNS 18.2%. A higher isolation frequency of all species was noted in the small scale farms; however, these differences were not statistically significant. In this study, varying level of resistance of S. aureus (100%) to bacitracin, methicillin, neomycin and polymixin was noticed. The susceptibility pattern indicated S. aureus isolates exhibited varying level of resistance to two or more antimicrobial agents. 66.6% of the isolates showed susceptibility to the tested drugsenStaphylococcuspoultryprevalencecarcassisolationantimicrobial susceptibilityDebre ZeitThesis