A Comparative Assessment of Bacteria Associated with Fried and Dry-Smoked Fish in Some Locations in Makurdi, Nigeria

Thirty-two samples of fried and smoked fish were collected from four different locations (Watada, High-level, North bank and Wurukum) in Makurdi. Serial dilutions were prepared and appropriate dilutions inoculated onto Nutrient and Salmonella/Shigella agar. The bacterial load of the samples was determined and the colony forming unit per gramme (cfu/g) of fried fish samples ranged from 2.0×108 to 3.8×108 cfu/g while that of dried fish samples ranged from 4.3×108 to 7.8×108 cfu/g indicating that the dried fish samples were more contaminated. A total of 9 bacterila species were isolated from the 32 samples which includes, E. coli, Staphylococcusaureus, Bacillus spp, Shigella spp, Salmonella spp, Klebsiella spp, Micrococcus spp, Listeriamonocytogenes, and Pseudomonas spp. The percentage (%) occurrence of the bacteria isolates indicates that E. coli, Staphylococcusaureus, and Bacillus spp, showed 100%, Micrococcus spp 43.75%, Klebseilla spp 31.25%, Shigella spp and Salmonella spp 21.88% each, Listeria monocytogenes 18.75%, and Psedomonas spp 12.5% percentage frequency respectively. Results from this study showed that, samples collected from Wadata were the most contaminated, followed by those from North Bank, then those from Wurukum and those from High Level had the least contamination. The antimicrobial susceptibility test on the bacterial isolates showed that, 3 of the isolates (Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli and Pseudomonas spp) were multi-drugs resistance. Staphylococcus aureus isolates were resistance to Penicillins and Glycopeptides as it showed 60.7%, 62.5%, and 25.5% resistance to Oxacillin, Penicillin G, and Vancomycin respectively. E. coli and Pseudomonas spp isolates were both resistant to Tetracyclines and Penicillins. The resistance shown by E. coli isolates were 32.2% and 36.9% to Tetracycline and Ampicillin respectively while Pseudomonas spp isolates showed 54.5% and 79.3% to Tetracycline and Ampicillin respectively.