ASSESSMENTS OF HYGIENIC PRACTICES, ISOLATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY TEST OF Staphylococcus aureus FROM RAW COW AND GOAT MILK IN BABBILE DISTRICT, EASTERN ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2022 to January 2023 to assess hygienic practice, isolate, identify and antimicrobial susceptibility test of S. aureus isolates from milk of dairy cows and goats with their’s environment related samples (swabs from the hands of milkers and utensils) in Babbile district, Eastern Ethiopia. The sample was collected aseptically by simple random sampling from selected households and subjected to Bacteriological analysis in order to establish prevalence, identify risk factors and perform Antibiogram using 9 antimicrobials following the Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method. Descriptive statitics were carried out by using SPSS version 20 to compare dependent and independent varibles. From a total of 455 samples collected, the overall prevalence of S. aureus was 17.14% (78/455). The prevalence of S. aureus from raw cow milk samples were 37/195 (18.97%). Out this 14/81 (17.28%) taken from udder, 16/81 (19.75%) from the milking buckets at household and 7/33 (21.2%) from the local markets). On the other hand the prevelance of S. aureus from goats milk sample were 26/196 (13.27%) that (collected from udder 12/98 (12.24%), and milking bucktes at household was 14/98 (14.29%)) as well as 9/32 (28.13%) and 6/32 (18.75%) from hands of milkers and milking utensils respectively were examined. The prevalence of S. aureus was insignificantly high in cow milk (18.97%) than in goat milk (13.27%) and high in buckets than in udder milk. The study revealed that the assiociated risk factors such as parity; stage of lactation, udder hygiene, age, breeds, Frequency of milking per day, and udder Wash before milking had significant association (P < 0.05) with the prevalence of S. aureus. All 78 isolate were subjected to the nine antimicrobial discs. The highest rate of resistance was observed in cow isolates to Penicillin (86.49%), Ampicillin (81.10%), Tetracycline (67.57%) and Amoxicillin (56.76%). All isolates are resistant to at least one classes of antimicrobial drugs, while (93.59%) of the isolates were found to be multidrug-resistant. In conclusion, the poor milk hygienic practices, high rate of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and inadequate KAP of farmers about factors of raw milk contamination suggest potential public health risks in the area. Hence, there should be a practice of proper use of antibiotics, Good hygienic practices and strain identification should be undertaken.