Prevalence of Antibiotics Resistant Strains in Nigerian Ready-to-eat Foods.

The Listerial flora and bio-load associated with 411 ready-to-eat (RTE) foods sold at several locations in southern Nigeria was evaluated using phenotypic procedures which included serial dilution and pour plate techniques. Selected strains phenotypically identified from the RTE foods were further identified using virulence gene markers and 16srRNA amplification procedures. All the 90 strains cultured from the RTE foods were subjected to antibiogram analysis using disc diffusion. Some of the antibiotics employed included; Ceftazidine, cefuroxime, gentamicin, ofloxacin, augumentin, tetracycline and erythromycin. and were detected in the RTE foods. Haemolysin () gene, Internalin gene () and invasive gene () were detected in all isolates. LMEW70 with accession number KY053295 was 93% similar to L1846. All the isolates were resistant to amoxicillin, cloxacillin, augumentin and ceftazidime.