EVALUATION OF SMOKED FISH FOR ENTEROBACTERIA PATHOGENS AND ANTIBIOTICS SUSCEPTIBILITY PROFILE F THE ISOLATE IN ABAKALIKI METROPOLIS.

ish and fishery products are an important food component for a large part of the world's population, with an average consumption level of 20.1 kg per capital. In developing countries, fish is a relatively cheap and accessible protein source, suitable for complementing high carbohydrate based diets. This study is a cross-sectional study aimed at evaluating smoked fish for enterobacteria pathogens and antibiotics susceptibility profile of the isolate in Abakaliki metropolis, Ebonyi State.8 smoked fishes comprised of different species were randomly collected from each of the 4 markets; International market, Ishieke market, kpirikpiri market, and Ahia ofuhu in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State South-Eastern Nigeria. The species randomly collected included Mackerel (Scomber scombrus), Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), Panla (Gadus morhua) and Cat fish (Clarias gariepinus). The fish samples were collected and kept in a sterile universal container for microbial analysis. Bacterial isolates were characterized using routine microbiological procedures after which they were identified using Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. highest bacterial load was recorded on fish samples from Kpirikpiri market (0.35±0.11 × 10 CFU/ml) followed by those samples from Ishieke market (0.30±0.32 x 103 CFU/ml) and Ahia-ofuhu market (0.12+0.10 x 103 CFU/ml) while the lowestbacterial load was recorded on fish samples from International market (0.07±0.04 x 10 CFU/ml). The highest bacterial count on different fish types within Abakaliki metropolois as presented in table 4.2 was recorded on Panla (Gardus morhua) with the value 0.27±0.19 x 103 CFU/ml, followed by Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) with value 0.25±0.20 × 10 CFU/ml while the lowest bacterial count was recorded on catfish (Clarias gariepinus) samples with value 0.14+0.10 x 103 CFU/ml. There is no significant difference (P>0.05) on the bacterial load of the different fish species sold in Abakaliki metropolis. Shigella dysenteriae. and Salmonella typhi. were isolated from fishes from all the Markets, Klebsiella pneumoniae. was isolated from fishes from Kpirikpiri and Ahia-ofuhu Market and Esherichia coli was isolated from fishes from Ishieke Market. All the bacteria species isolated were all sensitive to the following antibiotic which they were subjected to: Cetriaxone, Levofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin but resistant to Cloxacilin and Clindamycin. The result of this work has proven that smoked fish contaminated