Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of selected pathogenic in lates niloticus sold in Kalerwe market, Kampala district, Uganda

Abstract

Fish are considered as nutritionally valuable part of the human diet because they contain long chain polyunsaturated omega 3 fatty acids which are essential in human nutrition and have antiinflammatory properties. However fish remains among the most perishable foods and highly prone to spoilage because it contains long chain poly unsaturated omega 3- fatty acids which are highly prune to oxidative deterioration which reduces the shelf life of fish and its products. Despite the high nutritional quality that links fish consumption to positive human health effects, aquaculture system is vulnerable to pollution and run offs from agricultural activities which contaminate fish with pathogens. These pathogens result into diseases which affect the humans. Food borne pathogens are the major cause of illness, death and expenses in the hospitals and their occurrence in food like fish is considered a big global health problem to human beings. The burden of food borne diseases is increasing due to antimicrobial resistance which represents a greater risk of treatment failure. The antibiotic resistance is driven by the inappropriate use of antibiotics in fish farming and agriculture. And little is known about the antibiotic resistance profile of food borne pathogens in fish. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of E.coli, salmonella and staphylococcus aureus isolated from the gills and fillet of nile perch. A total of 14 samples was used, 10 samples were collected from the kalerwe market and four were collected from lake Victoria at Ggaba landing site.