Full Length Research Paper

Antibiotic resistance profile of bacterial isolates from food sold on a University campus in south western Nigeria

Oluyege, A. O.¹*, Dada, A. C.², Ojo, A. M.¹ and Oluwadare, E.¹

¹Department of Microbiology, University of Ado-Ekiti, P.M.B. 5363, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.

²Institute of Ecology and Environmental Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: kemioluyege@yahoo.com.

Accepted 8 September, 2009

   Abstract

The antibiotic resistance profile of bacterial isolates from cooked food samples sold in different eateries on the campus of the University of Ado-Ekiti was investigated. A total of seventy-eight bacterial isolates belonging to six genera were encountered in the following proportion: Escherichia coli (29.5%), Klebsiella spp. (25.6%), Proteus spp. (18.0%), Salmonella spp. (12.8%), Pseudomonas spp. (11.5%) and Enterobacter spp. (2.5%). The antibiotic resistance pattern of the isolates revealed that resistance to six out of the eight antibiotic tested was above 50%. Nalidixic acid was the only antibiotic with a resistance rate below this range. Resistance to amoxicillin was the highest (89.1%), followed by augmentin (76.9%) and gentamycin (71.8%). The results suggest the need for intensive surveillance of isolates throughout food production continuum to prevent food-borne infections and also to detect emerging antimicrobial resistance phenotypes.

Key words: Antibiotic resistance, vended food quality, surveillance.