Bacteriological profile of bacterial isolates from the hands and nasal swabs of food vendors in University of Benin, Nigeria

This research was undertaken to investigate the bacteriological profile of bacterial isolates from the hands and nasal swabs of food vendors at the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State. A total of 20 different samples were randomly collected from ten (10) different food vendors at the University of Benin Food Court, Benin City, Nigeria. Swab samples were inoculated using streak plate and incubated at 24 hours at 37oC. The samples were sub-cultured after 24 hours and identified based on cultural characteristics, morphology and biochemical tests. The bacteria isolated include Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus cereus from nasal swab samples while Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus were isolated from hand swab samples. The frequency of occurrence of the bacteria recovered from hand was Staphylococcus epidermidis 7(70%), Staphylococcus aureus 3(30%) while Staphylococcus aureus 5(50%), Staphylococcus epidermidis 2(20%) and Bacillus cereus 3(30%) were recovered from nasal swab respectively. The antibiotic susceptibility and resistance pattern exhibited by the recovered isolates from the nasal swab showed that 10(100%) of all the isolates were susceptible to Pefloxacin, Ciprofloxacin, Streptomycin and Co-trimoxazole(septrin) respectively while 0(0%) of the recovered isolates were resistant to Cefuroxime respectively whereas the recovered Staphylococcus epidermidis from the hand swab had 5 (71.4%) which were susceptible to Gentamycin, 3(42.9%) which were susceptible to Ampiclox, 2(28.6%) which were susceptible to Rocephin, and 5(57.1%) were susceptible to Erythromycin. Consequently, it is suggested that the food vendors should adhere strictly to good hygiene practices and health practices in line with regulatory standards.