Isolation and Antibiotics Susceptibility Pattern of Bacteria Species Associated with Shopping Trolleys and Baskets from Supermarkets in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

Pathogens on public shared objects among people have generated a lot of public health concerns. People are brought together and thus facilitate transmission of pathogens either directly or indirectly within the supermarkets. This study was aimed at isolating bacteria from items carriage from supermarkets and assesses the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the isolates. A total of 253 swab samples were obtained from handles of trolleys and baskets used by customers from four major supermarkets in Akure. Each sample was immediately transferred into 5 ml of peptone water. The samples were processed using a standard microbiological method. Bacteria growths were identified based on cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics. Susceptibility test of the isolates was done on Mueller-Hinton agar. The study shows that out of the 353 isolates identified, 37.1% were S. aureus, 49.6% were S. epidermidis, 5.7% were Klebsiella sp and 7.6% were E. coli. Results showed that Ampiclox and Cotrimoxazole (S. aureus in Trolleys), Ampiclox, Zinnacef, Amoxacillin, Ciprofloxacin and Streptomycin (S. aureus in baskets), Rocephin (S. epidermidis in trolleys) and Amoxacillin (S. epidermidis in baskets) are ineffective. Regular disinfection of items carriage and educating people to improve hand washing habits are recommended as measures to decreasing transmission of pathogens and their infections.