Prevalence of Salmonella and Shigella carriage among food handlers at a tertiary hospital in North Central Nigeria
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Date
2020
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Publisher
University of Ilorin
Abstract
Food borne diseases such as salmonellosis and shigellosis remain a major public health problem across the globe especially in the developing countries. Food handlers are potential transmitters of food borne bacteria that cause these diseases.
Periodic screening of food handlers can prevent life threatening outbreaks in hospitals and the larger community. This study therefore aimed at determining the carriage rate of Salmonella and Shigella spp. among food handlers at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin. This was an observational study of all the food handlers in the hospital who met the inclusion criteria for this study. They were screened for specific food borne pathogens from May to June, 2018. Hand swabs and fresh stool specimens collected from the food handlers were examined specifically for Salmonella and Shigella spp. using standard microbiological techniques. The socio-demographic characteristics of the food handlers were also obtained using structured questionnaires specifically designed for the study. Of 81 participants recruited into the study, Salmonella spp was isolated from the stool of 1
(1.2%) of the food handlers. No Shigella spp. was isolated from the stool cultures. The hand swabs revealed no isolate. The colonization rate of food handlers by Salmonella spp in this study, there is very low yet epidemiologically significant. Periodic screening and FBP eradication therapy for carrying/ infected FBHs is
recommended to avoid outbreaks of food borne infections in the hospital.
Description
An original article that describes the prevalence of bacterial pathogens that cause food borne diseases among food handlers in the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital