ABSTRACT

A total of 120 samples from water, food, goat and sheep in Umuahia were examined for Staphylococcus strains using Mannitol Salt agar and Bacto Staphylococcus medium. Staph. aureus strains were isolated from all samples examined. Eighty - eight (73.3%) f the samples yielded coagulase-positive strains. All the water samples used in food preparation centers yielded the highest coagulase-positive strains. Two ready-to-eat food, moi-rnoi and suya whose method of sale involve little or no hand contact, contained the lowest numbers of S. aureus. Prevalence of resistance to ten antibiotics (Ciproflox, Norfioxacin, Gentamycin, Lincocin, Streptomycin, Rifampin, Floxapen, Erythromycin, Chioramphenicol, Ampiclox). Showed that all the isolates were resistant to one or more of the antibiotics. Majority of the strains from water samples used for food preparation were resistant to all the antibiotics tested, compared to isolates from sheep and goat. Resistance to -1actams was observed in all the isolates from various sources. Only 50% of the Staph. aureus isolates were resistant to chloramphenicol. High streptornycin and gentamycin resistance was observed in all isolates. In conjugation experiments with Escherichia coli as recipient, antibiotic resistance was observed to be transferred from Staph. aureus isolates. The results indicate that the occurrence of multi-resistant Staph. aureus in the food environment may constitute a reservoir for disseminating antibiotic resistance into the community.