Resistance of Bacteria Isolates from Cabbage (<i>Brassica oleracea</i>), Carrots (<i>Daucus carota</i>) and Lettuce (<i>Lactuca sativa</i>) in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana

Abstract

Despite the benefits humanity derives from vegetables, they are as well a good source of foodborne illnesses when contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms especially the antibiotic resistant ones. This study evaluated the antibiotic resistance of bacteria isolated from three commonly consumed vegetables; cabbage (<i>Brassica oleracea</i>), carrots (<i>Daucus carota</i>) and lettuce (<i>Lactuca sativa</i>) in the Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana. The bacteria isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method on Mueller-Hinton agar. A total of 78 bacteria isolates were obtained from the three vegetables with the Gram-positive bacteria accounting for 23.08% (18/78) whilst the Gram-negative bacteria accounted for 76.92% (60/78). The Gram-negative bacteria consisted of <i>Acinectobacter spp., Aeromonas salmonicida, Aeromonas spp., Chryseomonas loteola, Citrobacter spp., Enterobacter cloacae, Enterobacter sakazakii, Erwinia nigrifluence, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Salmonella spp. and Serratia spp. </i> while Gram-positive bacteria consisted of <i>Brevibacillus spp., Brochothrix thermosphacter, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus spp. </i> All the Gram-positive bacteria isolates showed 100% resistance to penicillin, ampicillin and flucloxacillin, 88.2% were resistant to cefuroxime with 64.7% resistant to tetracycline and 17.6% resistant to cotrimoxazole but were all sensitive to gentamycin. For the Gram-negative bacteria, 96.7% were resistant to ampicillin with 90% being resistant to cefuroxime, 73.3% and 60% were resistant to chloramphenicol and tetracycline, respectively, but unlike the Gram-positives, 15% of the Gram-negative bacteria were resistant to gentamycin. All the Gram-positive isolates demonstrated multi antibiotic resistance (MAR), with <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> and <i>Streptococcus</i> spp. being resistant to seven (7) out of the eight (8) tested antibiotics. For the Gram-negative bacteria, <i>Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Salmonella</i> spp., <i>Citrobacter</i> spp. and <i>Enterobacter</i> were resistant to all eight (8) antibiotics. The implication of the findings in this study presents vegetables as a potential vehicle for microbial food poisoning as well as a source of infectious diseases that cannot be treated with commonly used antibiotics. Thus, good practices should be undertaken to reduce if not eliminate contamination of vegetables.