Prevalence of Salmonella in Sea Foods and Its Resistance to Drugs

Salmonella are non-spore forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria with peritrichous flagella (all around the cell body). They are intracellular pathogens causing illness. They usually invade only the gastrointestinal tract and cause Salmonellosis. Humans become infected most frequently through contaminated food or water.  Sea foods are mostly associated with Salmonella infections. This study therefore was carried out to isolate Salmonella and determine the antibiotic sensitivity patterns of the Salmonella isolates from sea foods associated with food-borne diseases. These sea foods were obtained from three different selected markets within Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State. A total of three (3) sea food samples were collected at random from each of the market. The samples were put through standard microbiological techniques. The result of total heterotrophic bacterial counts showed that Prawn from Mile 1 market had high count of 2.06x108 cfu/g while Crab from Creek Road market had the least count of 1.15x108 cfu/g. The result of total coliform count showed that Crab from Mile 1 market had the highest count of 2.86x106 cfu/g while Periwinkle from Creek Road market had the least count of 2.30x106 cfu/g. Also, the result of salmonella shigella count showed that Periwinkle from Mile 1 market had the least count of 0.76x105 cfu/g while Crab from Creek Road market had the highest count of 2.80x105 cfu/g. Characteristics of bacterial isolates from the sea foods showed that Proteus sp., Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas sp., Micrococcus sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella spp. were present and identified from the samples. The result of the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the Salmonella isolates showed that all the isolates were 100% susceptible to Tarivid, Peflacine, Septrine and Ciprofloxacin while they exhibited 100% intermediate sensitivity or resistance to the other antibiotics such as Ceporex, Nalidixic acid, Ampicillin, Gentamycin, Streptomycin, and Augmentin. The result of the multidrug resistance index of 3 (100%) of the 3 Salmonella isolates had a MAR index ≥ 0.2. The presence of these organisms in sea food could pose threat of food-borne infection as well as resistance to some commonly used antibiotics. Enforcement of existing laws associated with food storage, preparation and hygiene should be done in order to prevent or reduce these food-borne diseases such as salmonellosis.