Bacterial Flora of Wild and Cultured Clariasgariepinus (African Catfish) and their Public Health Implications.

The microbial quality of food fish is of public health importance. The microbiological safety of both wild and cultured Clariasgariepinus (African Catfish) randomly caught from different aquatic environment locations in Ibadan city was evaluated in the present study. The bacterial load of ninety-six (96) skin and stomach samples randomly harvested from fish specimen were examined and compared. The resistance of bacterial isolates towards commonly used antibiotics was also studied. All the samples were contaminated by bacteria ranging from Log10CFU/cm 2 13.07 to Log10CFU/g 13.16 which is largely above recommended level of Log10CFU/cm 2 2.0-7.0 (skin) andLog10CFU/g 3.0-9.0 (stomach) of fish. The bacterial species isolated from skin and stomach were: Bacillus, Proteus, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Streptococcus, Staphyloccus, Micrococcus, Serratia and Escherichia. The degree of resistance shown by the isolates to the antibiotics ranged from 5087.5%, with multiple drugs resistance to 4-8 antibiotics. The Isolate (Gram-ve) showed 100% resistant to Nalidixic acid and Cotrimozazole. The public health implications of the findings arising from this study include emergence of drug resistant strains and risk of untreatable food poisoning conditions caused by these drug resistant food borne pathogens.