Browsing by Author "Mrutu, Rehema"

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Bacterial contamination of pork carcasses from Arusha, Tanzania
(Global Journal of Advanced Research, 2016-09-30) Luanda, Catherine; Buza, Joram; Mwanyika, Gaspary; Lyimo, Beatus; Mrutu, Rehema
Consumer demand for pork in Tanzania is driving growth of an increasing number of poorly equipped formal and informal slaugther facilities. To assess the potential public health challenges from these developments, we assessed the magnitude of microbial contamination of pork carcases from slaughterhouses in urban Arusha. Carcasses surface swabs (n = 90) from three slaughterhouses (designated A, B and C with carcass turnover of 1-30, 30-50 and 50-100 per day, respectively) were sampled and E. coli and Salmonella isolates (n = 1,632 and n = 177, respectively) were tested against a panel of 11 antibiotics using breakpoint assays. On average, E. coli and Salmonella were recovered from 71.1% and 66.7% of carcasses, respectively. Prevalence was highest (E. coli, 90.0% and Salmonella, 90.0%) for carcasses from site B, a facility where all slaughter operations, including eviscerations, were completed on the floor. The lowest prevalence (E. coli, 43.3% and Salmonella, 36.7%) was recorded for carcasses from Site C, a facility where most operations were completed with the carcasses hanging from overhead rails. Resistance to at least one antibiotic was observed in 71.2% of the E. coli isolates, most commonly to ampicillin (53.2%) followed by amoxicillin (38.8%) and sulfamethoxazole (31.0%). Approximately 45.2% of Salmonella isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic while 23.2% were resistant to two or more of the tested antibiotics. Resistance to streptomycin (19.8%), trimethoprim (18.6%), ampicillin (16.9%) and sulfamethoxazole (13.6%) were most common. All isolates were susceptible to cefotaxime, ceftazidime, and chloramphenicol. These findings associate poor slaughter practices with bacterial carcass contamination and provide evidence for potential to contract antimicrobial resistant E. coli and Salmonella.. General Terms: Microbial load, multidrug resist
Load and Prevalence of Antimicrobial-Resistant Escherichia coli from Fresh Goat Meat in Arusha, Tanzania
(Journal of Food Protection, 2016) Mwanyika, Gaspary; Call, Douglas; Rugumisa, Bernadether; Luanda, Catherine; Mrutu, Rehema; Subbiah, Murugan; Buza, Joram
Given the potential public health risks associated with a burgeoning goat meat industry in Tanzania, we estimated the load of Escherichia coli and the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant strains for goat meat by using a cross-sectional study design (June to July 2015). Five large (n¼60 samples) and five small (n¼64 samples) slaughterhouses were sampled over a period of four to six visits each. Meat rinsate was prepared and plated onto MacConkey agar, and presumptive E. coli colonies were enumerated and reported as CFU per milliliter of rinsate. In total, 2,736 presumptive E. coli isolates were tested for antibiotic drug sensitivity by using breakpoint assays against 11 medically important antibiotics. E. coli was recovered from almost all the samples (96.8%), with counts ranging from 2 to 4 log CFU ml 1, and there was no significant difference (P¼0.43) in recovery according to facility size (average, 3.37 versus 3.13 log CFU ml 1, large and small, respectively). Samples from large facilities had relatively higher prevalence (P ¼ 0.026) of antibiotic-resistant E. coli compared with small facilities. This was mostly explained by more ampicillin (30.1 versus 12.8%) and amoxicillin (17.6 versus 4.5%) resistance for large versus small facilities, respectively, and more tetracycline resistance for small facilities (5.6 versus 10.6%, respectively). Large slaughter operations may serve as foci for dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria via food products. More effective hygiene practices during slaughter and meat handling would limit the probability of transmitting antibiotic-resistant E. coli in goat meat.
Prevalence of Antibiotic-Resistant Fecal Escherichia coli Isolates from Penned Broiler and Scavenging Local Chickens in Arusha, Tanzania
(Journal of Food Protection, 2016) Rugumisa, Bernadether; Call, Douglas; Mwanyika, Gaspary; Mrutu, Rehema; Luanda, Catherine; Lyimo, Beatus; Subbiah, Murugan; Buza, Joram
We compared the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli isolates from household-level producers of broiler (commercial source breeds) and local chickens in the Arusha District of Tanzania. Households were composed of a single dwelling or residence with independent, penned broiler flocks. Free-range, scavenging chickens were mixed breed and loosely associated with individual households. A total of 1,800 E. coli isolates (1,200 from broiler and 600 from scavenging local chickens) from 75 chickens were tested for their susceptibility against 11 antibiotics by using breakpoint assays. Isolates from broiler chickens harbored a higher prevalence of antibiotic-resistant E. coli relative to scavenging local chickens, including sulfamethoxazole (80.3 versus 34%), followed by trimethoprim (69.3 versus 27.7%), tetracycline (56.8 versus 20%), streptomycin (52.7 versus 24.7%), amoxicillin (49.6 versus 17%), ampicillin (49.1 versus 16.8%), ciprofloxacin (21.9 versus 1.7%), and chloramphenicol (1.5 versus 1.2%). Except for resistance to chloramphenicol, scavenging local chickens harbored fewer resistant E. coli isolates (P , 0.05). Broiler chickens harbored more isolates that were resistant to 7 antibiotics (P , 0.05). The higher prevalence of antibiotic-resistant E. coli from broiler chickens correlated with the reported therapeutic and prophylactic use of antibiotics in this poultry population. We suggest that improved biosecurity measures and increased vaccination efforts would reduce reliance on antibiotics by these households.