ABSTRACT
Cattle dung contains a lot of potentially pathogenic bacteria. Data on bacteria from local cattle (muturu) unlike its fulani relative is however scarce. This research was carried out to analyze the bacterial microflora of cattle muturu dung. A total of four stool samples received in our Laboratory were analyzed. A ten-fold serial dilution was carried out on all samples. Briefly, one (1) gram each of stool sample was weighed onto test tubes containing 9ml of sterile distilled water to make stock solutions. The tubes were homogenized after which 1ml was inoculated onto
petri dish containing solidified agar and rocked for even distribution. Agar plates were incubated at 37°∁ for 24hours. Bacterial counts were carried out on each of them. Identification of bacteria isolates were carried out using standard guidelines such as morphological (shape, size, arrangement, staining property, motility and spore formation) colonial (texture, elevation, margin and colour) and biochemical (catalase, oxidase, citrate utilization, urease and indole production) characteristics. Bacterial isolates recovered from cattle dung incude: Eschericia coli, Salmonella
sp.,Staphylococcus sp., Enterococcus sp., Shigella sp., Bacillus sp. and Streptococcus sp. The antibacterial resistance pattern of bacterial isolates to routinely used antibiotics (azithromycin, levofloxacin, erythromycin, pefloxacin, gentamycin, ampicillin-cloxacillin, cefuroxime, amoxiclin, ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin) was carried out using the Disc diffusion method. Thetotal heterotrouphic bacterial counts ranged from 1.5×103cfu/g – 9.8 ×105 cfu/g. Bacterial isolates showed varying resistance to the antibacterial agents used in this study. Both isolates of Eschericia coli were resistant to azithromycin and levofloxacin. Bacillus specie was resistant to erythromycin and pefloxacin while Salmonella sp. showed resistance to gentamycin. The presence of antibiotic resistance bacteria in local cattle dug could be of grave public health
concern.
