ANTIBOITICS SUSCEPTIBILITY PROFILE OF P. MIRABILIS AND K. PNEUMONIA ASSOCIATED WITH FOOD BORNE INFECTION IN CALABAR SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

Foodborne illness is a key public health concern worldwide which occurs due to the ingestion of contaminated food products, mostly animal and poultry-derived food. The prime cause of foodborne infections is the presence of bacteria in foods which will grow under favorable conditions and produce toxins in food Currently, foodborne illness caused by bacterial contamination is one of the foremost threats distressing public health. This study evaluated the antiboitics susceptibility profile of p. mirabilis and k. pneumonia associated with food borne infection. Result revealed that the total heterotrophic bacteria count of bacteria isolate ranges from 7.2 x104CFU/g to 9.9x104 CFU/g. and (3.5 x 104 CFU/g) to (4.6 x103 CFU/g) for total coliform count and 0 cfu/g to 1.2x104 cfu/g for fecal coliform. UWN had the highest value of total heterotrophic count and total coliform count, GOL had the least fecal coliform count. The morphological and biochemical characteristics of bacteria isolate from the food sources revealed the presence of Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, among other gram-negative bacteria such as; Shigella spp, E. coli spp, Psedudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella. The antibacterial susceptibility testing results revealed that out of the twelve (12) antibiotics used, Ampicillin had 83.3%, Gentamycin, Sparfloxacin, and Ciprofloxacin had 50%, Augmentin, Chloramphenicol, Pefloxacin, Streptomycin, and Septrin had 33.3%, Tarivid had 16.7% percentage sensitivity respectively. The distribution of bacterial isolates based on their multiple Antibiotics Resistance (MAR) Index value shows that 10(100%) of the resistant bacteria isolates have MAR index greater than 0.2, More so, pr3 (0.6) and Kl3 (0.6) isolates had the highest MAR index. It is therefore, recommended that it’s important to create effective vaccines, prevent foodborne illnesses.