Characterization and recovery rates of food-indicator microorganisms from home-made oral rehydration solutions in Nigeria

Abstract

From home-made oral rehydration solutions (ORS), the identified bacterial strains from a total of 1880 bacterial isolates (1010 from granulated sugar and 870 from table salt) using the conventional taxonomic tools were Bacillus cereus var. mycoides (0.57%), Bacillus subtilis (2.28%), Citrobacter sp. (1.07%), Clostridium perfringes (14.75%), Enterobacter aerogenes (6.13%), Escherichia coli (7.44%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (10.0%), Morganella morganii (0.78%), Proteus mirabilis (6.74%), P. vulgaris (1.68%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4.67%), Salmonella entrica serovar Typhi (3.89%), Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (0.99%), Shigella dysentariae (11.0%), Staphylococcus aureus (11.98%) and Vibrio cholerae (2.57%). The isolated fungal species from the table salt and granulated sugar samples were Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Botryiodiplodia sp., Candida sp. and Scopulariopsis sp. Home-made ORS may serve as a means of transmitting gastroenteritis/diarrhoea and other infectious microbial agents in developing countries like Nigeria

Key words: Characterization, food indicator organisms, home-made, oral dehydration solutions, recovery rates.