Pages: (79-85 )
Abstract
Raw and minimally processed fruits and vegetables are essential part of peoples’ diet around the globe. These agricultural products may, however, serve as vehicle of drug-resistant human diseases. Hence, this study was, therefore, carried out to determine the antibiotic resistance profile of bacterial flora from fruits and vegetables purchased in some market locations in Ilishan community. Swabs from the surfaces of fruits and vegetables were aseptically inoculated and serially diluted in 0.1% peptone water. Bacterial total count (TC) and enterobacteriaceae count (EC) were determined on nutrient agar and MacConkey agar respectively, after aerobic incubation at 37°C for 48hours. Speciation of bacterial isolates was determined by standard microbiological techniques. Susceptibility of the isolated bacteria against some selected cephalosporins and quinolones was determined by agar-disc diffusion method. The most frequently isolated organisms were Klebsiella species (41.8%), followed by Pseudomonas aeroginosa (26.1%) while Salmonella species (2.2%) and Candida albicans was least with a frequency of 2.2%. Higher frequency of antibacterial resistance was recorded against augmentin (86.7%) and cefuroxime (84.4%), with a record of 64.4% multiple resistance against both drugs. From this study it was established that fruits and vegetables can serve as potential media for the dissemination of both enteric and non-enteric microbial pathogens, including bacterial strains that exhibit multiple resistance to the cephalosporins, in the human community.
Keywords: Effedua et al., - Incidence of Cephalosporin Resistant Bacterial Flora in Fruits and Vegetables ...,