OCCURRENCE AND ANTIBIOGRAM OF Escherichia coli O157:H7 FROM NIGERIAN CURRENCY NOTES (NAIRA), COLLECTED FROM BUTCHERS AT THE MEAT MARKET IN KARU ABATTOIR, ABUJA. NIGERIA

OCCURRENCE AND ANTIBIOGRAM OF Escherichia coli O157:H7 FROM NIGERIAN CURRENCY NOTES (NAIRA), COLLECTED FROM BUTCHERS AT THE MEAT MARKET IN KARU ABATTOIR, ABUJA. NIGERIA

Abstract:

Currency note is a medium of exchange for goods and services; buying and selling of meat, at meat markets. This present study was designed to evaluate the occurrence, Total viable count (TVC), serology and determination of antibiotic sensitivity pattern of E. coli O157:H7 from Nigerian currency notes (Naira) collected from butchers at the meat market in Karu Abattoir, Abuja. The 189 currency notes sampled from the eight currency denominations were subjected to cultivation and isolation using Eosine methylene blue and Sorbitol-MacConkay agar respectively, in which isolates were obtained. All the 189 (100%) naira notes sampled were contaminated with bacteria of the 189 samples, 12 (19.7%) were E. coli, of which 5 (41.7%) were E. coli O157:H7. Antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the 12 E. coli isolates from currency notes was done using antibiotic disc diffusion method and results were recorded according to CLSI standards. Antibiotic sensitivity pattern revealed that the E. coli isolates were observed to be 100.0% susceptible to vancomycin, oxacillin and penicillin G, while they were observed to be 33.3% resistant to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and amikacin. Currency notes can potentially serve as fomite in transmitting microorganisms such as Escherichia coli O157:H7 which causes enteric diseases in humans. Also poor handling practices of currency notes poses a critical public health threat.

OCCURRENCE AND ANTIBIOGRAM OF Escherichia coli O157:H7 FROM NIGERIAN CURRENCY NOTES (NAIRA), COLLECTED FROM BUTCHERS AT THE MEAT MARKET IN KARU ABATTOIR, ABUJA. NIGERIA