A cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence, distribution and associated riskrnfactors of Salmonella and its drug resistance pattern as well as the risk factors associatedrnwith drug resistance to different antibiotics was conducted from November 2014 to Junern2015 in poultry farms and abattoir of selected six areas of central and south Ethiopia.rn200 samples from Addis Ababa, 184 samples from Bishoftu, 205 samples from Modjo,rn199 samples from Adama, 170 samples from Hawassa and 100 samples from Bonga withrntotal 1059 samples from different sources consisting of poultry (feces, swab), feed, water,rnpersonnel (hand swab), environment (litter, pooled feces) and carcass swab werernrandomly collected following the standard techniques and procedures. The isolation ofrnSalmonella was conducted using standard bacteriological methods and the drugrnsensitivity testing was done by using disk diffusion methods. From these wide spectrum ofrnsamples, 27% from Bonga (P=0.000), 15.1% from Modjo, 11.5% from Addis Ababa,rn10.6% from Hawassa, 7.5% from Adama and 6.5% from Bishoftu had Salmonellarnorganisms. Out of the total sample collected, 126 (11.9%) are positive for Salmonella,rnindicating its ubiquitous distribution. Its distribution is associated with location, specificrnarea and individual farms within broad area, sample source and breed indicating, whichrnare important risk factors. Of the 126 isolates, 123 (97.8%) were developed resistance tornall types of the 10 tested antibiotics although Gentamcycin and Ciprofloxacinrndemonstrated relatively a better efficacy. Alarmingly, multidrug resistance (86.5%) isrnvery common. In this regard, 7 isolates to 2 drugs, 9 isolates to 3 drugs, 7 isolates to 4rndrugs, 16 isolates to 5 drugs, 10 isolates to 6 drugs, 16 isolates to 7 drugs and 44 isolatesrnto 8 drugs have developed resistance. Each specific drug in this study has its own specificrnrisk factor for resistance development. In general, location, production type, flock sizernand housing system were important risk factors for drug resistance development.rnSignificant wide distribution and multi drug resistance for routinely prescribedrnantimicrobial drugs both in veterinary and public health sectors poses considerablernhealth hazards to poultry production industry as well as the consumers unless prudentrnantimicrobial usage, improvement of standards of hygiene and development andrnenforcement of suitable legislation are urgently instituted. Serotyping and molecularrncharacterization of Salmonella is of significance.