Prevalence of Sorbitol-Negative Escherichia coli 0157:H7 Strain in Beef and Cattle Faeces in Jos South L.G.A Plateau State Nigeria

Abstract

This research work was aimed at determining the prevalence of sorbitol-negative Escherichia coli O157:H7 strain in beef and cattle faeces in Jos South L.G.A Plateau state, A total of two hundred samples from beef and cattle faeces were collected. The samples were subjected to bacteriological analysis with one gram (1g) of each sample (beef and faeces) homogenized and inoculated into a prepared try tone soya broth and peptone water respectively and incubated at 3 7°C for 24hours for pre-enrichment. After which 0.1ml of the overnight culture was inoculated on a prepared MacConkey agar and later sub-cultured onto cefixime tellurite Sorbitol MacConkey agar and incubated at 37°C for 24hours for isolation of E. coli and E. coli 0157:H7 strains respectively. The result of this shows that out of the 200 samples cultured and analyzed, the overall prevalence of E. coli 0157. H7 was 13 (10.83%). Infection rates of 8 (10.8%) were observed in the meat sample which is higher compared to 5 (10.87%) from the faecal samples. There was no significant difference between the two sample's type (p>0.05). The male subjects had higher prevalence rate ofE. coli O157:H7,11(8.8%) in both samples which is higher than that of the female 2(2.27%) with a significant difference between them (p<0.05). The most significant finding from this study is the isolation of E coli O157.H7 from our food product sold in the market which has economic implication of health risk on the general public. These results are indication of the poor sanitary environment under which the animals are slaughtered and processed. Hence application of good hygiene practices in the abattoir, good animal husbandry, pre-skinning decontamination as well as incorporation of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) in the abattoir is recommended.