Abstract
Introduction: Infectious diseases attributable to the consumption of raw and lightly cooked molluscan shellfish are caused by bacterial agents that are associated either with human waste disposed into the ocean or those of marine origin. This has led to the increase in prevalence of bacterial diseases and microbial resistance to antibiotics.
 Method: Samples of P. perna were dissected and homogenized for bacterial isolation. Six bacteria were isolated, identified and evaluated for their antimicrobial susceptibility profiling.
 Results: The microbial counts obtained revealed significant differences in the pathogenic bacteria populations found in the gut and gill of Perna perna. The morphological characteristics of the isolates were found to be of different shapes. All the isolates were catalase and oxidase positive except Vibrio spp. which was negative to the latter. Chloramphenicol and ciprofloxacillin were the most effective antibiotics against all the isolates, each exhibiting 100% efficacy. The highest resistance to ampicilin was observed in Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus xylosus.
 Conclusions: The results revealed that marine habitats are reservoirs of bacterial pathogens and there is increased resistance to antibiotic therapy, thereby constituting risks to public health. Therefore, appropriate surveillance measures to safeguard the health of shellfish consumers’ should be established.
Highlights
Infectious diseases attributable to the consumption of raw and lightly cooked molluscan shellfish are caused by bacterial agents that are associated either with human waste disposed into the ocean or those of marine origin
The results of this study revealed that marine habitats are reservoirs of bacterial pathogens and there is increased resistance to antibiotics, thereby constituting risks to public health
The South African Molluscan Shellfish Monitoring and Control Programme is working tremendously with the shellfish farmers, laboratories, National Regulator for Compulsory Specification (NRCS), Department of Health (DoH) and Municipalities to enforces microbiological monitoring in commercial shellfish farms in order to minimize the risk of disease and poisoning through consumption of molluscan shellfish [2]
Summary
Infectious diseases attributable to the consumption of raw and lightly cooked molluscan shellfish are caused by bacterial agents that are associated either with human waste disposed into the ocean or those of marine origin. This has led to the increase in prevalence of bacterial agents and microbial resistance to antibiotics. Marine ecosystems are increasingly contaminated through multifarious man-made activities such as the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents into the ocean This has resulted into drastic reduction of shallow waters fish populations and invertebrates, ecological imbalance resulting into large scale disappearance of numerous flora and fauna, increased pollution of marine with chemicals and toxins which affect the microbial populations [1]. The international Commission on Microbial Specification for Foods have rated raw molluscan shellfish as the second highest hazard of all foods [4]
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