Microbiological Investigations of Selected Flies of Public Health Importance from a Waste Dump Site in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Bacteria associated with flies of public health importance in Nigeria are not well known and their ecology is also not well understood. We aim to determine the bacteria associated with flies of waste dump site. Three flies of public health significance were collected from a waste dump site of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt. The three dipterous flies were Luciliasericata, Chrysomyasp and Musca domestica..The three flies were all of medical importance.The microbial load on three species of flies was investigated using standard plate count methods. The fly samples were collected from the Post Graduate Entomology Laboratory was cultured to isolate and identify the microbes associated with them. The samples were analyzed for total heterotrophic bacteria and fungi counts. The study revealed high heterotrophic bacteria and fungi counts in all three species of the flies used, with Musca domestica having the highest count of 2.9 X 10 9 Cfu/gram and Chrysomyasp with the least count of 3.4 x 10 5 Cfu/g and fungi counts ranged from 3.1 X 10 3 Cfu/g to 2.9 X 10 5 Cfu/g. The bacteria isolated from these samples includes: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonassp,, Bacillussp, Enterobactersp, Staphylococcussp,Salmonellasp, Proteussp, and Klebsiellasp, while the fungi species isolated includes: Penicilliumsp, Aspergillussp,Rhizopussp,Cladosporiumsp,Aspergillusflavus, Aspergillusniger, Fusariumsp and Trichoderma sp.