Prevalence and Antibiogram of Bacteria Associated with Food Vending in Awka-South LGA, Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Food vending is recently a booming part of the food industry and millions of people depend on it for their daily nutritional needs especially because of its easy accessibility. It has become an important issue due to widespread food-borne diseases which are leading cause of morbidity and mortality. study is aimed at assessing the prevalence an antibiogram assay of bacteria associated with food vending in Awka-South LGA, Anambra S randomly selected towns for this study were towns in Awka-South LGA in Anambra state namely Awka (State capital), Mbaukwu and Nise. cross-sectional study and multistage sampling technique was adopted and sample size determined using a standard formula. Total of 65 were sampled. Sterile swab sticks were used to swab the palms, aprons, plates and spoons of the food vendors and the rinse method was used for bacteria isolation. Antibiotics sensitivity test of isolates was carried out using Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. The bacteria isolates from this study (24.41%), S. aureus (21.60%), B. cereus Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15.96%), marcescens (4.70%), Klebsiella pneumoniae and Salmonella enterica (13.38%). isolates during the course of this study showed wide resistance to conventional antibiotics especially beta lactams. The findings of this study therefore necessitate the need for sensitization of food vendors and appropriate measures should be established to monitor susceptibility patterns of microorganisms involved as this will help to avoid possible outbreaks.