Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns of Bacteria Isolated from Sachet-packaged Water Sold in Uyo Metropolis, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

Aims: This study was aimed at determining the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of bacteria isolated from sachet water sold in Uyo metropolis, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
 Study Design: Sachet water was randomly sampled in Uyo Metropolis.
 Place and Duration of Study: Department of Microbiology, Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria, between June and November 2018.
 Methodology: Six different brands of sachets water sold and consumed in Uyo metropolis were studied for their physical and microbiological qualities. Thirty (30) sachets water from the six (6) different brands respectively, were serially diluted and cultured on Nutrient agar, Eosin Methylene Blue agar, MacConkey agar and Salmonella-Shigella agar, while Muller Hinton agar was used for sensitivity test. Suspensions of purified isolates were standardized with 0.5 McFarland turbidity standard and were subjected to antibiotics susceptibility testing using Agar Diffusion method.
 Results: The bacterial counts obtained ranged from 2.0 x 101 cfu/ml to 1.34 x 102 cfu/ml. Species isolated from the samples analysed included: Klebsiella sp., Escherichia sp., Staphylococcus sp., Salmonella sp., Pseudomonas sp., Citrobacter sp., Bacillus sp. Bacillus sp. Was susceptible to all the antibiotics tested against it except streptomycin while Staphylococcus sp was resistant to gentamicine and ampiclox but susceptible to other antibiotics. All the gram negative isolates were susceptible to tarivia and peflacine but completely resistant to nalidixic acid. Klebsiella sp. was most resistant (70%) of all the isolates, these was closely followed bt Escherichia sp. and Salmonella sp. at 60% resistance. Some of the sachet water brands from bacteriological standpoints did not meet the World Health Organization Standard for portable water.
 Conclusion: This study indicted sub-standard packaged waters as a vehicle for the spread of antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens, and this poses a high risk to public health. Hence, routine monitoring of producers of sachet water should been enforced.

Microbial contamination of packaged drinking water in Nigeria

“…Five (10%) of the studies reported assessing microbial contamination more than once [34–38] while the majority assessed this only once. Of the 52 included studies: two provided data on E. coli contamination only [39,40] eight assessed total coliforms only [34,37,41–46] sixteen assessed total coliforms and E. coli [10,35,36,47–59] fifteen characterised other bacteria in addition to E. coli [20,60–63]; total coliforms [38,64–66]; or total coliforms and E. coli [67–72] one study assessed TTC, total coliforms and E. coli [73] six other studies enumerated and characterised faecal coliform at 44–44.5°C within 48 h and we extracted the data as TTC [74,75], in addition to the total coliforms data reported [76–80]. two other studies also enumerated faecal coliform, however these were not characterised at the appropriate temperature [81,82].…”

“…Five of the studies included in this review further evaluated antimicrobial susceptibility of identified isolates and reported significant multidrug resistance to broad spectrum antibiotics for these microorganisms [42,45,60,71,79]. Resistance of up to 70 to 100% were reported against penicillin and cephalosporin antibiotics [42,45,60] with some sensitivity to the quinolones and macrolides [71,79]. Although the study by Ernest et al [49] showed no contamination in the registered sachet water brands assessed, the authors reported E. coli and total coliforms isolates in the 50 samples obtained from the unregistered brands.…”

“…• two provided data on E. coli contamination only [39,40] • eight assessed total coliforms only [34,37,[41][42][43][44][45][46] • sixteen assessed total coliforms and E. coli [10,35,36,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59] • fifteen characterised other bacteria in addition to E. coli [20,[60][61][62][63]; total coliforms [38,[64][65][66]; or total coliforms and E. coli [67][68][69][70][71][72] • one study assessed TTC, total coliforms and E. coli [73] • six other studies enumerated and characterised faecal coliform at 44-44.5°C within 48 h and we extracted the data as TTC [74,75], in addition to the total coliforms data reported [76][77]…”

“…Seventeen studies identified other bacterial isolates in the cultured colonies and the most prevalent were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterobacter and Serratia [10,20,42,45,60,61,64,[67][68][69]71,73,79,81]. Five of the studies included in this review further evaluated antimicrobial susceptibility of identified isolates and reported significant multidrug resistance to broad spectrum antibiotics for these microorganisms [42,45,60,71,79]. Resistance of up to 70 to 100% were reported against penicillin and cephalosporin antibiotics [42,45,60] with some sensitivity to the quinolones and macrolides [71,79].…”

Potability of some selected sachet water sold in Bwari area Council Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria along the production and distribution chain

“…Some of the bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus is a normal flora and when the hands of the factory workers are not frequently disinfected especially during packaging, the bacteria may find it way to the final product. In this study, distribution of bacteria down the production line and across the distribution chain showed that the source of water used in the production of the sachet water had seventy three (73) isolates, final product of the sachet water collected from the factories had ten (10) isolates, twenty four (24) isolates were gotten from the hand swabs of the factor workers, sachet water collected from the distributors recorded fifteen (15) isolates while sixteen (16) microorganisms were recorded from the sachet water collected from the hawkers. The bacteria isolated from the sachet water in this study as product moves across the production process and down the distribution chain were not significantly different (P≤ 0.05) among the four brands of sachet water analyzed.…”