Antibiotic resistance and presence of plasmids in bacteria isolated from cooked street foods

Abstract

ABSTRACT Antibiotic resistance abilities and the presence of plasmids conferring resistance in bacteria from cooked street foods sold in South-West Nigeria were studied. A number of antibiotics were used to examine the isolates’ resistance patterns and plasmid curing was done to detect the presence of plasmids in the cooked street food bacteria. Fifty bacteria were identified from the sampled cooked street foods with high resistance to augmentin (96 %), ceftazidime (96 %) cefuroxime (86 %). Low resistance was observed to nitrofurantoin (16 %), ofloxacin (22 %), and ciprofloxacin (24 %). An independent sample t-test results showed a statistically significant difference between the number of isolates resistant to ≥3 antibiotics and those resistant to <3 antibiotics (p < 0.05) obtained in the study. A lower level of resistance was observed to ciprofloxacin and nitrofurantoin as against the resistance levels before curing. The need for regular and adequate food outlet monitoring is therefore of paramount importance.