POTENTIALS OF FLIES IN THE TRANSMISSION OF Escherichia coli 0157:H7 AND OTHER ENTERIC BACTERIA ASSOCIATED WITH WASTE WATER

The design was to determine the prevalence of enteroheamorrhagic Escherichia coli 0157:H7 (EHEC) carried by Flies (musca domestica) around waste water irrigation sites of Jakara and Sharada waste water channels in Kano city. Thirty one (31) samples of flies were collected for the analysis, 15 from along Jakara waste water river and 16 from along Sharada waste water river and screened for E. coli 0157:H7 on Sorbitol MacConkey agar supplemented with Cefexim and Potassium tellurite (CT-SMAC) agar and using Latex agglutination test. Other enterobacteriaceae were isolated on McConkey agar and identified by biochemical tests, using Microbact 24E Identification Kit. There was a mean (M) mesophilic bacteria count of 126.07 × 10 -4 and standard deviation (SD) of ±122.38 and M = 112.00 × 10 -4 , SD = ±75.72 from Jakara and Sharada river sample sites respectively. Citrobacter spp. had the highest percentage occurrence of 83.87% among the thirteen enterobactericeae species isolated, while Yersinia spp and Providentia spp have the least occurrences of 6.45% and 3.23% respectively. Serologically E. coli 0157:H7 was 70.97% amongst which only Six (27.6%) were biochemically confirmed to be E. coli 0157:H7, Ten (45.5%) were positive for Cellobiose fermentation and Potassium cyanide. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of both enterobacteriaceae and E. coli 0157:H7 between the sites. The study demonstrated the presence of E. coli 0157:H7 in flies found at irrigation site not directly connected to animal farmyard, and in strong relationship with other enterobacteriaceae.