MICROORGANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH FAIRLY USED SHOES

ABSTRACT

This study accessed the microorganism associated with fairly used shoes found at New Benin market in Benin City. A total of six female shoes were sampled from the market. The results showed that the highest heterotrophic bacterial count on Nutrient Agar (NA) was 6.73 x 104 cfu/cm2 while the highest fungal count on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) was 5.13 x 104 sfu/cm2 . Using Gram’s stain and lactophenol cotton blue respectively, a preliminary attempt was also conducted to identify the bacteria and fungi that were present on the surfaces of the different types of footwear. The probable identified bacterial isolates from the fairly used shoes were Bacillus sp., Micrococcus sp., Enterobacter sp., and Staphylococcus sp., while the probable identified fungal isolates were Mucor sp. and Saccharomyces sp. This study demonstrated the common contamination of used footwears by a number of pathogenic microorganisms, highlighting the public health issue and underscoring the necessity of thorough disinfection of used footwears before wearing.