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ABSTRACT
Vibrioparahaemolyticus is recognized as a cause of food-borne illness that is associated with seafood consumptions. Vibrios are transmitted to human mostly viasewage contaminated water or seafood when consumed raw or partially cooked.
Fifty two seafood samples which include frozen fish, smoked fish, shrimp, crayfish and periwinkle from five different markets in Benin City were analysed for the prevalence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus using cultural and biochemical identification techniques.
In the 52 samples analysed, the result showed that 65.4% (34/52) of the samples were V. parahaemolyticus positivebased on cultural and biochemical identification. The shrimp samples showed a higher prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus with 100% prevalence (6/6). The results from the study also showed that Uselu market, of the markets contained more samples with V. parahaemolyticus. The antibiotic susceptibility of the samples was also determined using the Kirby-Bauer method using seven different antibiotics. The isolates were found to be resistant to piperacillin, meropenem and ceftazidime while they were also susceptible to gentamicin, tetracycline and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. The MAR index of the isolates was determined and found to range from 0.4 – 0.7 thereby indicating a high risk of sources where the isolates originated. The occurrence of MAR asserted the importance of determining drug susceptibility and monitoring the antimicrobial resistance profile to improve and ensure food safety and public health.
