Q-235. Screening Human and Non-Human Specimens for Escherichia coli 0157:H7 and Typhoid Organisms in Benin-City, Nigeria

A. O. Ekundayo, J. O. Isibor;
Ambrose Alli Univ., Ekpoma, NIGERIA.

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli 0157:H7 (EHEC) and Salmonella spp continue to cause gastrointestinal symptoms in people in developing countries, and could be transmitted by non-human vehicles. In this study carried out in Nigeria, 180 stool specimens from 80 undergraduate students and 100 food vendors, and 86 specimens from non-human sources (abbattoirs, hawked food items and faecal materials from domestic animals) were screened for presence of EHEC, Salmonella spp and other bacterial pathogens. Fresh stool specimens were inoculated onto Sorbitol MacConkey agar with BCIG (OXOID CM 0981), enriched with cefixime-tellurite supplement (OXOID SR 0172) for the isolation of EHEC; selenite Broth (OXOID CM395) and Desoxycholate Citrate Agar (OXOID CM 0277) for isolating Salmonella spp and MacConkey (OXOID CM 7) and Blood Agar (OXOID CM 55) were used for the isolations from non-human specimens. Latex agglutination test reagents (OXOID DR 620) were used for presumptive serological detection of EHEC, serotype 0157:H7. Of the human subjects screened, 1 (0.6%) specimen from a food vendor yielded EHEC 0157:H7. No EHEC was isolated from the students. Nine(5%) specimens yielded Salmonella spp (3 isolates from students, 6 from food vendors). Of the 86 non-human samples screened, 3 samples (3.5%) from exposed beef in abattoir (1), hawked meat (1) and faecal material from a hen(1) were found to be contaminated with EHEC 0157:H7.Thirty(35%)non-0157:H7 strains were also recovered. The greatest proportion of non-0157:H7 isolates of 26(30.2%) were from hawked foods,abattoirs and domestic animals.Only one isolate each of Salmonella and Shigella species were recovered from hawked foods. In our study the incidence of 0157:H7 was low.