Isolation, prevalence of bacteria and fungi from carcasses and different locations within Yola abattoir and antimicrobial resistance profile of Escherichia coli O157:H7

The absence of modern slaughtering facilities and an unhygienic environment in Yola abattoir may result in an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic microorganisms, leading to economic loss and human death. Hence, this study was carried out to isolate and assess the prevalence of bacteria and fungi within the abattoir environment as well as to determine the antimicrobial resistance profile of E. coli O157:H7 from different locations and carcasses. A cross-sectional study was conducted where a simple random sampling method was used for sampling. A total of 156 samples were collected. Isolation and identification of bacteria and fungi were done using standard methods. Pseudomonas was the most dominant bacterial species with a total of 151 isolates, followed by E. coli 143 and Klebsiella with 123 isolates. The highest prevalence in fungi was recorded in Aspergillus flavus at 17.6 %, followed by Aspergillus niger at 15.1 % and Trichophyton rubrum and Penicillium that had 14.5 % respectively. The highest mean air-borne coliform count was in the Lairage, it ranged between 1.1 x 106 CFU/m3 and 1.7 x 106 CFU/m3. A hundred and forty-three E. coli were isolated out of which six (4.2 %) were characterized to be E. coli O157:H7 producing characteristic colorless colonies on cefixime tellurite sorbitol MacConkey (CT-SMAC) agar. All the six E. coli O157:H7 were resistant to at least two antibiotics, ampicillin, and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid while ciprofloxacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and tetracycline were effective against the six E. coli O157:H7. The MAR ranged between 0.2 and 0.7. The results obtained in this study showed that there is a need for modern facilities in Yola abattoir, training of workers on hygiene, and a hygienic environment to avoid microbial contamination and spread of antimicrobial-resistant pathogenic strains like E. coli O157:H7 and mycotoxin producer Aspergillus flavus.