Bacteriological Quality of Environmental Samples and Patterns of Antibiotics Resistance of Klebsiella and Enterobacter Species from an Abattoir in Ibadan, Nigeria

Antibiotics have been used appropriately and inappropriately in animal husbandry. In abattoir, faeces generated as wastes may contain coliforms and/or antibiotics which seep through the soil into ground water or runoff into surface water, thereby contaminating the water. This study was designed to determine the bacteriological quality of environmental samples from an abattoir area in Ibadan, Nigeria and the antibiotic-susceptibility pattern of Klebsiella and Enterobacter species isolated. Well water, pond water, wastewater, cow dung and soil samples were collected, the total heterotrophic bacteria count and total coliform count of the samples were carried out while Klebsiella and Enterobacter species were isolated using MacConkey agar and Eosin Methylene Blue Agar. The antibiotic susceptibility test of the isolates was carried out using the disc diffusion technique.

The total heterotrophic bacteria count (2.1×107 cfu/ml) of the wastewater sample was the highest followed by that of well 7 with a count of 7.4 ×104 cfu/ml. While the highest total coliform count of 2.7×107 cfu/ml was from the wastewater, the counts from well 9, well 7, well 1 and the cow dung were 1.2×105cfu/ml, 1.0×105cfu/ml, 8.8×104cfu/ml and 1.0×104cfu/ml respectively. A total of 94 Klebsiella and Enterobacter species were isolated and were mostly resistant to ampicillin (76.6%) and cefotaxime (55.2%), while the least resistance was to ciprofloxacin (4.3%). The high total heterotrophic bacteria count and high total coliform count observed from this study coupled with the presence of multiple antibiotic resistant Klebsiella and Enterobacter species poses a grave danger to the health of the public if necessary precautions are not taken.