Occurrence of multi-drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae in cultured Clarias gariepinus (African catfish) in Kano metropolis, Nigeria

Multi-drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae were isolated from cultured African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) from ten different fish farms located in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria using conventional methods of bacterial isolation, phenotypic characterization and antimicrobial susceptibility test. This study seeks to document the occurrence of Enterobacteriaceae isolates in cultured African catfish from ten registered fish farms, determine possible resistance to some antimicrobials and the fish safety for human consumption. Isolation and identification of microorganisms were carried out based on the standard procedures and antimicrobial susceptibility to 8 commonly used antimicrobials were conducted using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Out of the 400 fish liver sampled, 370 (92.5%) were positive for Enterobacteriaceae isolates, these included 277 (69.25%) E. coli, 13 (3.25%) Salmonella spp, 36 (9%) Klebsiella spp, 21 (5.25%) Proteus spp and 23 (5.75%) Enterobacter spp. The prevalence of the multi-drug resistance was 97.5% for E. coli, 100% for Salmonella spp, 100% for Klebsiella spp, 90.5% for Proteus spp and 82.6% for Enterobacter spp. This study establishes the presence of some Enterobacteriaceae and the development of multi-drug resistance by these microorganisms. More studies like molecular characterization need to be carried out to determine the resistant genes in these organisms, also to assess antimicrobial use among fish farmers and the drug residue levels in the edible tissues of cultured African catfish in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria