Investigation of House Flies as a Potential Reservoir of Multidrug Resistant Bacteria in Selected Locations within Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The common houseflies are known vectors capable of transmitting organisms from human to human. At present most studies have focused simply on pathogen detection rather than frequency while a few have described antibiogram patterns and multidrug resistance (MDR). This study aimed at analyzing house flies caught in two poultry farms and close-by residential areas using standard microbiological techniques. The house flies were identified by their physical characteristics using standard keys. Of the total bacteria isolated from 80 flies, Salmonella spp. were the most commonly occurring and together with Escherichia coli, Proteus spp. and Klebsiella spp made up 81.4% of total bacteria. Most isolates were resistant to amoxicillin (82.9%) and co-trimoxazole (81.4%), while the least resistance was against ciprofloxacin (6.2%). In total 58 different antibiograms were detected, though nearly 50% of these (29/59) were observed in only a single isolate. This study noted a high degree of MDR (74.4%) among bacterial isolates. In addition to the ability of houseflies to serve as reservoirs for possible bacteria pathogens, this study clearly describes its ability to serve as reservoirs for MDR also. The diversity of bacteria identified points at a possible major public health issue due to the potential difficulty in controlling acquisition of bacteria by flies. Control efforts might therefore need to be more suited to reducing access of these flies to human food and water.