ENTEROTOXIN PRODUCTION AND ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS AMONG FOOD HANDLERS IN A SUB-URBAN SETTING IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Augustina Akum Okoro*, Smart Enoch Amala and Easter Godwin Nwokah

ABSTRACT

Food handlers have been incriminated in the transmission of food borne diseases, contributing significantly to the global incidence and burden of diseases. This study investigated enterotoxin production and antimicrobial resistance of Staphyloccocus aureus among food handlers in a sub-urban setting in Rivers State, Nigeria. A total of 360 hand and nasal swab samples were collected from food handlers in Eleme (n=180) and Oyigbo (n=180) local government areas using a simple random sampling technique. Organisms were isolated using standard microbiological techniques. Prolex™ Staph Xtra Latex kit was used for confirmation of enterotoxin production, while Cefoxitin discs (30 μg) was used for methicillin resistance screening. Disk diffusion method was used to test susceptibility patterns of Staphylococcus aureus against panel of antimicrobial agents. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 21 for prevalence, frequency, chi square and correlation tested at 0.05 level of significance. The prevalence of S. aureus obtained from this study was 28.1%, out of which Enterotoxin-Producing Staphylococcus aureus was 37.6%. The prevalence of S. aureus among street food handlers was higher in Oyigbo (34.4%) compared to Eleme (21.7%), while enterotoxin producers occurred at a higher rate (43.6%) in Eleme than in Oyigbo (33.9%). Toxin production and socio-demographic variables of location, sex and education were significantly associated (p<0.05), whereas age showed no significant association (p>0.05) with enterotoxin production. Correlation analysis for education showed an indirect association with enterotoxin production (0.000); whereas others demonstrated direct association except age (p=0.088). S. aureus isolates showed maximum resistance to penicillin antibiotic (92.1%) and the highest susceptibility to vancomycin (96.0%). Also, 21.8% of the isolates was resistant to cefoxitin (Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus), whereas 78.1% was sensitive (MSSA). The present study considered prevalence rates of S. aureus, enterotoxin producing S. aureus, MRSA and multidrug resistant which have empirically proven high rate of occurrences among food handlers within the study locations. The public health implications of these findings and appropriate response cannot be overemphasized.

Keywords: Enterotoxin, Antimicrobial Resistance, S. aureus, Food Handlers.