oxigenic Profiling and Antibiotic Resistance of Baclllus cereus Strains Isolated from Food Consumed By School Children In Ilorin Metropolis

Background: Food poisoning is caused by toxin produced by pathogenic organisms like bacteria, viruses etc. These toxins are common causes of food borne illness. This study was carried out to determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattarn and molecular identity of enterotoxigenic Bacillus cereus strains isolated from food consumed by school children in Ilorin metropolis Methods: Bacterial isolates that were identified as Bacillus cereus (OQ235070), Bacillus cereus (OQ235071), Bacillus cereus (OQ235072), Bacillus cereus (OQ235073), Bacillus thuringiensis (OQ235074), Bacillus cereus (OQ235075) and Bacillus cereus (OQ235076) were obtained from culture collection from Microbiology laboratory, Kwara State University, Nigeria were used for this research. Antibiotic susceptibility test was carried out on the isolates using standard technique. Detection of resistance gene, plasmid profiling and curing, and detection of enterotoxigenic genes were done using standard microbiological methods. Results: All the isolates were resistant to minimum of two antibiotics before and after plasmid cur-ing. A total of 98 % of the isolates were susceptible to ofloxaxin, centamincin, pefloxacin, and augmentin while 90 % of the isolates were resistance to amoxylin, streptomycin, and chloramphenicol. Plasmid profiling shows that the bacteria harbored mega plasmid with equal size of 5000 bp. Curing removed all plasmid, presence of enterotoxin virulence gene nhe A, B, C and hbl C, D were observed but hbl A was not found. Conclusion: The Bacillus species studied were found to be multi-drug resistant and carried entero-toxigenic genes which were chromosomally borne.