Prevalence of multidrug resistant Salmonella spp. in raw vegetables in Jessore city, Bangladesh.

Abstract

Food borne illness especially enteric fever is a common issue all over the world as well as in Bangladesh which results from consuming foods, vegetables or drinking beverages that are contaminated with infectious microorganisms. Antibiotic resistance of microorganisms is now a frequently asked public health concern and very tough to resolve the problem. The present study was conducted to evaluate microbiological quality of raw vegetables and their role as a source of antibiotic resistant bacteria specially Salmonella spp. A total of 9 types of vegetables were examined including Tomato, Carrot, Green chili, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Bean, Onion pulp, Red amaranth and Cucumber collected from open markets in Jessore town. Salmonella spp. were isolated using selective media such as XLD, BSA and BGA media and further biochemical tests were conducted to confirm their presence in selected vegetables. All the positive isolates were tested with commercially available antibiotic disc in Muller-Hinton agar media. Isolated Salmonella spp. were fully resistant to Ampicillin (10µg) and Streptomycin (10µg), moderately resistant to Gentamycin (10µg), partially resistant to Nalidixic acid (10µg) and Erythromycin (15µg) except Ciprofloxacin (30µg) and Tetracyclin (30µg) which were fully sensitive. Indiscriminate consumption of antibiotics and their disposal into the environment might be a better source of multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria in vegetables. These results suggest the necessity to follow the hygienic practices in handling vegetables in open markets as well as limitation of using compost prepared from human and animal excreta.