Antibiotics susceptibility pattern and occurrence of bacteria in ready-to-eat roasted spiced chicken sold along road sides in Makurdi town

Antibiotics susceptibility pattern and the bacterial load in ready to eat roasted spiced chicken sold along road sides in Makurdi town were determined, and also, the associated bacteria were identified and isolated. Samples (10) of roasted spiced chicken, were collected each from Wurukum, Wadata, Old GRA, Highlevel and Northbank areas, which were evaluated for their bacterial load and antibiotic susceptibility using pour plate and the disc diffusion method. Bacteria isolated were tested against antibiotic to determine their sensitivity. Results showed mean total viable bacterial counts of 3.57x103 ± 2.78×103cfu/g, 4.71 x 103 ± 3.81 × 103cfu/g, 2.90 x 103 ± 4.43×103cfu/g,1.82x103 ± 1.61 × 103 cfu/g and 3.49x103 ± 2.97×103cfu/g for Wurukum, Wadata, Old GRA, Highlevel and Northbank respectively. All the counts were within the tolerable limit of ˂106. There was a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the bacterial count across the locations. On the percentage prevalence of isolates across samples from the various location, Wurukum had the highest prevalence of 22.36%, while High level had the least with 16.15%. Staphylococcus species, Proteus, Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia coli, Klebisella and Bacillus species were isolated and identified as contaminating bacteria in this study. The bacterial isolates showed highest percentages of susceptibility for Ciprofloxacin, with over 90% susceptibility for most of the bacterial genera except for Shigella and Klebsiella species, which serve as a wake-up call to pharmaceutical industries to develop higher susceptibility antibacterial agent against those bacteria that shown higher resistance. Ampiclox and amoxicilin were the least active drugs. Therefore, the results of this study suggests serious public health concern because, Escherichia coli, which is an indicator of fecal contamination, its presence in these food samples is a pointer of serious contamination of the analyzed roasted chicken, making it a possible route of food-borne disease outbreak