Frequency and Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns of Bacterial Species Isolated from the Body Surface of the Housefly (Musca domestica) in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The emergence and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria has become a serious problem worldwide. House­flies are potential carriers of pathogenic and resistant bacteria and could be contributing to the global spread of these strains in the environments.We investigated the prevalence and antimicrobial resistant profiles of bacteria isolated from houseflies in Akure.
 Methods: Twenty-five houseflies were captured by a sterile nylon net from the slaughterhouse, garbage dump, human house, hospital, and eatery from 9:00am to 1:00pm when the flies were active and transported immediately to the la­bor­atory in sterile containers for processing. Bacterial loads were enumerated by serial dilution and plating on nutrient agar and selective media. Bacteria species were isolated by conventional isolation technique. Antibiotic susceptibility test was determined by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique.
 Results: Sixty-seven bacterial species were isolated from 25 samples that were collected. The predominant bacterial species was Escherichia coli (n= 31, 45%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (n= 17, 25%), Staphylococcus aureus (n= 11, 16%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n= 3, 4.3%). The bacterial load of the samples ranged from 9.7×105CFU/mL to 1.65×106CFU/mL. The results revealed that all isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp, and Proteus mi­rabilis were resistant to streptomycin and cotrimoxazole, augmentin and amoxicillin respectively. None of the S. aureus iso­lates was resistant to cotrimoxazole, chloramphenicol, sparfloxacin, augmentin, and ofloxacin. All isolates were multi-drug resistant.
 Conclusion: House flies that were collected from the slaughterhouse, garbage dump, human house, hospital, and eatery may participate in the dispersal of pathogenic and resistant bacteria in the study environment.

House Flies (Musca domestica) from Swine and Poultry Farms Carrying Antimicrobial Resistant Enterobacteriaceae and Salmonella

“…Ertapenem (96.25% of susceptible isolates), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (91.25% of susceptible isolates), aztreonam (88.75% of susceptible isolates), ciprofloxacin (85.00% of susceptible isolates), and gentamicin (88.75% of susceptible isolates) were the most effective antimicrobials against the tested Enterobacteriaceae isolates. This is in line with the results reported by other authors [ 25 , 42 , 43 ], with few works reporting higher percentages of resistant isolates [ 24 ].…”

“…In another survey on MDR isolates carried by flies in dairy farms, the percentages of MDR E. coli ranged between 3.17% and 44.44% [ 21 ]. In a study on antimicrobial resistance in bacteria isolated from house flies, collected in different settings, the percentage of MDR Enterobacteriaceae ranged between 5.9% and 50% [ 43 ]. Poudel and coworkers identified 19.04% of MDR E. coli and 5.4% of MDR K. pneumoniae among isolates coming from flies collected in different locations [ 25 ].…”

Bacterial pathogens identified from houseflies in different human and animal settings: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Antimicrobial resistance results in a serious public health problem, for it weakens the treatment efficacy against bacterial infections and this poses greater health risks (Russell et al, 2018;Wei et al, 2013). Some studies have reported some bacterial isolates which are resistant to significantly more than one of the commonly used antibiotics tested (Akter et al, 2020;Hemmatinezhad et al, 2015;Nazari et al, 2017;Nwankwo et al, 2020;Odentoyin et al, 2020;Rahuma et al, 2005). According to Russell et al (2018), dipterans that associate with livestock, livestock waste products and cadavers have the potential to acquire livestock-associated antibiotic resistant bacteria and transmit them to humans.…”

Antimicrobial resistant and enteropathogenic bacteria in ‘filth flies’: a cross-sectional study from Nigeria

“…Flies are important reservoirs and vectors of antimicrobial resistant bacteria (such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus , ESBL-producing Enterobacterales [ESBL-E]) 3 , 7 . One short report suggests that antimicrobial resistant bacteria can also be detected in flies (n = 25) in sub-Saharan Africa 8 . However, the true burden of AMR in ‘filth flies’ in Africa is unknown and it is currently unclear which fly species are the main vectors of ESBL-E and enteropathogenic bacteria.…”