Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Nigerian Fermented Food Condiments

Food borne diseases remain a growing public health problem gotten through the consumption of contaminated food and water. A world health organization report, 2015 estimated 600million episodes of illness due to contaminated food worldwide. Amongst all age groups, Africa bore the greatest burden of diarrhoeal diseases. Gram-negative bacteria have become a significant challenge to the control of infection as a result of acquisition of antibiotic resistant genes. This is especially of concern in Nigeria where fermented condiments are important part of daily meals and sometimes consumed without cooking. This work thus identifies Gram negative bacteria from fermented condiments and evaluates the antibiotic resistance profile of the bacterial isolates. The fermented condiments- Iru (Parkia biglobosa) (67), Ogiri-igbo (Ricinus communis) (58), Ukpaka (Pentaclethra macrophylla) (22) and Okpei (Prosopis africana) (42), were obtained from markets in Abuja, Gboko, Lokoja, Okenne, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode, Ilorin, Lagos, Ondo and Ore. Coliform and faecal coliform test was done. Isolation of the Gram-negative bacteria was done using MacConkey agar. Taxonomic studies were carried out on the isolated Gram negative bacteria. Determination of antibiotic resistance profile of the Gram-negative bacteria was done by disc diffusion method. Ukpaka (Pentaclethra macrophylla) samples had the highest percentage occurrence of coliforms (100%). Faecal coliform were more prevalent in Ukpaka (20%) and Iru (16.67%). Klebsiella pneumonia was prevalent in the 3 of the fermented condiments (Iru, Ogiri and Ukpaka). Escherichia coli was the most frequent Gram-negative bacteria in Okpei samples. The relatively high recovery rates of Gram-negative bacteria shows possible contamination of fermented condiments by human pathogens. The isolates from Ukpaka showed the highest resistance (55.3%) to Cotrimoxazole. The effect of the resistance of Gram-negative bacteria to antibiotics could be transmission of resistant strains from farm to house, treatment failure and a limited choice of antibiotics used for treatment.