MICROBIAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIBIOGRAM OF REUSABLE PLASTIC BOTTLES

Microbial analysis and antibiogram of reusable plastic bottles was studied using standard microbiological procedures. Three (3) washed plastic bottles and unwashed plastic bottle samples were obtained from Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua and were labelled as A, B, C, D, E and F. The total bacterial count of the sample revealed that Sample B had the highest bacterial count of (2.44×10⁵ cfu/ml), followed by Sample C (1.96×10⁵ cfu/ml), Sample A (1.93×10⁵ cfu/ml), Sample F (1.58×10⁵ cfu/ml), Sample D (1.03×10⁵ cfu/ml) while Sample E had the least bacterial count of (7.9×10⁴ cfu/ml) respectively. The bacteria identified were Klebsiella sp., Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp., Streptococcus sp. and Staphylococcus sp. Staphylococcus sp. recorded the highest percentage occurrence of (25.3%) followed by Pseudomonas sp. with (23.4%), Bacillus sp. (20.0%), Streptococcus sp. (19.6%), while Klebsiella sp. had the least percentage occurrence of (11.6%) respectively. In the total fungal, Sample C had the highest fungal count of (1.0×10⁴ cfu/ml), followed by Sample B (0.7×10⁴ cfu/ml), Sample A (0.2×10⁴ cfu/ml), Sample D and F (0.1×10⁴ cfu/ml), while Sample E had the least fungal count of (0.0×10⁵ cfu/ml) respectively. The fungi identified were Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., Cladosporium sp. and Candida sp. Penicillium sp. had the highest percentage occurrence of (38.1%) followed by Cladosporium sp. with (28.6%), Candida sp. (23.8%) while Aspergillus sp. had the least percentage occurrence of (9.5%). The total coliform count revealed that Sample B had the highest coliform count of (6.1×10⁴ cfu/ml), followed by Sample A (2.4×10⁴ cfu/ml), Sample C (2.1×10⁴ cfu/ml), Sample E (0.7×10⁴ cfu/ml) while Sample D and F had the least coliform count of (0.0×10⁵ cfu/ml) respectively. The antibiotics susceptibility profile of the bacterial isolates showed that Staphylococcus sp. was sensitive to Ciprofloxacin (31mm), Streptomycin (27mm), Gentamycin (25mm), Levofloxacin (24mm), Ampiclox (20mm), Rifampicin (18mm) while showing resistant to all other antibiotics. Streptococcus sp. was sensitive to Levofloxacin (33mm), Ampiclox (30mm), Streptomycin (29mm), Chloramphenicol (28mm), Erythromycin (27mm), Gentamycin (26mm), Ciprofloxacin and Norfloxacin (25mm), Rifampicin (22mm) and Amoxil (21mm) respectively. Bacillus sp. was sensitive to Ciprofloxacin (35mm), Erythromycin (20mm), Norfloxacin (19mm), Levofloxacin and Streptomycin (17mm) while showing no zones of inhibitions to all other antibiotics. Pseudomonas sp. was sensitive to Tarivid and Ciprofloxacin (25mm), Augmentin (20mm) but was resistant to Streptomycin (14mm) while showing no zones of inhibitions to all other antibiotics. Klebsiella sp. was intermediate to Tarivid, Reflacin and Ciprofloxacin (15mm) while showing no zones of inhibitions to all other antibiotics. Regular cleaning with hot water and detergent of the bottles should be encouraged to avoid microbial contamination.