Multiple drug resistance Staphylococcus aureus isolated in foods of animal origin in Nairobi, Kenya

Background: StaphylococcuS. aureus is the most important agent, which is known to cause a wide range of diseases in both human and animals. Extended use and misuse of antibiotics in agriculture, stock farming and in the treatment of human diseases, has contributed to the rapid increase of the number of bacteria that are resistant to antimicrobial agents.Objective: To determine the occurrence of S. aureus in foods of animal origin and their reactions to commonly used antibiotic.Design: A descriptive, cross-sectional, quantitative study.Setting: Central Business District of Nairobi (CBDN) and its environment.Subject: Samples of meat (n=280) and dairy products (n=140) were randomly purchased from various butcheries and supermarkets. Additional 251 samples of various pork products were also collected randomly from a nearby pig processing plant for comparison purposes. Baird-Parker agar with 2% egg yolk tellurite emulsion was used as growth medium for isolation of S. aureus. The typical culture confirmed positive of S. aureus were tested for antibiotic susceptibility to eight commonly used antibiotics using the disc diffusion method.Result: Occurrence of S. aureus was 36.2% (152/420) and 39.4% (99/251) from the food outlets and meat processing factory respectively. Proportions of contamination from the two sources were not significantly different (p=0.400). Significantly, more contamination was observed in meat products (40.7%) compared to dairy products (25.0%) (p=0.001). Penicilin G (246; 99.6%) was the most resisted antibiotic followed by Ampicillin (230; 93.1).Conclusion: The results of this study confirms that multi antibiotics resistant S. aureus strains are present not only in hospital setups, but also widespread in foods of animal origin

Contamination of the minnow Rastrineobola argenta, through handling at landing sites and retail markets around Lake Victoria

Background: The quality of fish could be a challenge both locally and internationally as microbial contaminants may result in infections of humans when seafood is handled unhygienically. This is because enteric bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp. and Vibrio cholerae are likely to  accumulate in fish where low hygienic standards are maintained. Therefore, studies on fish contamination are critical for the acceptance of fish food locally and in international markets.Objective: To evaluate and compare the microbiological quality of R. argentea at the fish landing sites and local retail markets in Homa Bay County.Design: Purposive, cross-sectional study.Setting: Fish landing sites and retail markets in Homa Bay CountySubject: Studies on fish contamination are critical for the acceptance of fish food locally and in international markets. In this study, Rastrineobola argentea were examined for microbial loads.Results: Samples indicated high levels of coliforms and Escherichia coli in fish. At the landing sites, coliforms ranged from 1.6 x 103 to 4.0 x 103 while E. coli was between 0.8 x101 and 4.8 x 102. In water samples, coliforms ranged between 1.3 x 103 and 1.8x106 / ml whereas E. coli was 1.1x102 to 4.6x101. Personnel hands were found to be contaminated with Salmonella typhimurium and Shigella  dysenteriae. The samples from markets had coliform and E. coli at 5.0x104 to 9.0x105 and 2.0x102 to 4.0x102 respectively.Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that precaution should be taken to improve the hygiene levels along the value chains to ensure that the quality of fish is not compromised

RESISTANCE TO ANTIBIOTICS IN URINOPATHOGENIC BACTERIA ISOLATED IN PATIENTS ATTENDING KENYATTA UNIVERSITY HEALTH CLINIC, NAIROBI

Objective: To determine the aetiological bacterial agents of urinary tract infections, within communities in Kenyatta University, and current resistance levels to commonlyavailable therapeutic agents.Design: Cross-sectional survey research design.Setting: Kenyatta University Health Services Clinic, Nairobi.Subjects: Outpatients with symptoms of urinary tract infection within the six months study duration were observed.Results: Females were particularly prone to have confirmed cases of UTI. Escherichia coli were the principle aetiological agent accounting for 61.7% of the isolates.Other bacterial agents were Enterobacter agglomerans (18.7%), Citrobacter diversus (4%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (3.3%), Proteus spp. (2.1%), Pseudomonas spp. (0.1%), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (9.3%), and Streptococcus feacalis (0.7%). Over 60% of the Gram negative bacterial isolates were resistant to cotrimoxazole and ampicillin,39% resistant to augmentin and 25% were resistant to nalidixic acid. The ceftazidime was the most efficacious antimicrobial with an Escherichia coli resistance level of 2.2% (P=0.05). Resistance to nitrofuraintoin, gentamicin, cefuroxime, norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin was demonstrated in less than 15% of the bacterial isolates.Conclusion: The cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, nitrofurantoin and gentamicin have good efficacy against the uropathogenic bacteria and may be good therapeutic choiceswhen culture results are unavailable. High resistance levels exist against cotrimoxazole,ampicillin, augmentin, and nalidixic acid. These later antibiotics should thereforebe used against the uropathogenic bacteria with caution

ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT SALMONELLA AND ESCHERICHIA COLI ISOLATED FROM INDIGENOUS GALLUS DOMESTICUS IN NAIROBI, KENYA

Objective: To characterise and investigate antimicrobial resistance of Esherichia coli and salmonella strains isolated from indigenous Gallus gallus in a leading slaughterhouse/market outlet in Nairobi-Kenya.Design: A repeated cross sectional study and based on random sampling was used.Setting: The study was carried out in a leading market outlet in Nairobi, Kenya.Results: A hundred and four indigenous chicken rectal swabs were analysed, of which 67.3% were contaminated with Escherichia coli and 12.5% with Salmonella typhimurium. Seventy Escherichia coli isolates showed resistance phenotypes to one, two or more antibiotics. The most common antimicrobial resistance pattern was the single resistance to Tet (21.43%), followed by Amp Cot Tet (14%), Aug Amp Cot Tet (4.29%), Aug Amp Cot Tet Kan Chl (2.86%), Amp Cot Tet Chl, Cot Tet (2.86%) andCrx Amp Cot Tet Chl, Crx Amp Cot Chi, Amp Cot, Aug Amp, (1.43%) respectively.The highest rate of resistance was against Tet (55.7%), followed by Cot (40%). Third in line of resistance was Amp 32.86%, followed by Aug (11.43%), low or moderate resistance was against Chl (8.57%), Kan (4.29%), and Crx (2.86%) (P<0.0002). Salmonella typhimurium recovered displayed single resistance pattern to Tet (16.67%), Gen Cot Tet(8.33%), Amp Cot Tet (8.33%), Aug Amp Cot Tet (8.33%) and Amp Cot Tet Chl (16.67%).The highest resistance was against Tet (58.3%), Cot (41.7%), Amp (33.3%), Chl (16.7%), Aug and Gen (8.3%) respectively (P<0.0001). 3.0kb and 5.6kb plasmids isolated were not transferable by conjugation.Conclusion: Routine surveillance at slaughter/market outlets of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica should be done to identify infected flocks as a regulatory procedure for food safety and security programme