ISOLATE AND CHARACTERIZE PUTATIVE ESCHERICHIA AND BACILLUS FROM THE SURFACES

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to access the quantitative level of bacterial (Bacillus spp. and Escherichia coli) contamination present on the surfaces of canned drink surfaces in university of Benin shopping complexes. A total of 100 samples were analyzed using conventional or classical microbiological methods. Selective and differential media were employed for the isolation and identification of the target bacterial isolates of interest. Antibiogram test was carried out for the isolated bacteria and the multiple antibiotic resistance was deciphered for the isolates to confirm their importance as a public health pathogen. The result revealed that about 70.8% of all canned drink surfaces in the refrigerator were found to be contaminated with bacterial species while 72.5 % of canned drink surfaces stored in crates were contaminated with bacterial isolates. However, bacterial density obtained in this study was in between the range of 0.01±0.00 - 3.82±0.51 x 102 cfu/m2 . The putatively identified bacterial species using different selective and differential agar include Escherichia coli, B. subtilis and B. cereus. All isolated bacterial were found to be susceptible to ciprofloxacin while they were least susceptible to ceftriaxone. The isolates were shown to be multi-resistant because they were resistant to two or more antibiotics from different classes. This results revealed that the bacterial species were obtained from sources were antibiotics have been used and they are of public health importance as all the isolates were found to be greater than the stipulated value of 0.2.