title: Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Salmonella isolates in association with hygienic status from butcher shops in Gondar town, Ethiopia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Salmonella has been recognized as a major cause of food borne illness associated with meat products worldwide. The wide spread of antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella has been a serious global human and animal health problem. The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Salmonella isolates from butcher shops of Gondar town, Ethiopia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to June, 2013 in Gondar town. After receiving written consent from the study participants, raw meat and swab samples from butcher shops' utensils and meat handlers were collected and tested using standard bacteriological methods. The isolates were identified using colony characteristics, Gram-reaction, biochemical reaction and sugar tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Check list was used to record general hygienic conditions and practices in the butcher shops. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Butcher shop premises and utensils sanitation and personnel's hygiene were poor. The overall prevalence of Salmonella was 17.3 %. Salmonella was detected in 32 (35.6 %) meat samples, 13 (23.2 %) hand swabs, 5 (9.1 %) knife swabs, and 3 (5.6 %) chopping board surface swabs. Of the total 53 Salmonella isolates subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility test, 47 (88.7 %), 35 (62.3 %), 19 (35.8 %), 17 (32.1 %) and 16 (30.2 %) of them exhibited resistance to Ampicillin, Amoxicillin, Nitrofuranthoin, Tetracycline, and Sulfamethoxazole-Trimethoprime, respectively. Furthermore; 15 (28.3 %) of the isolates were multidrug-resistant from which highest isolation was recorded from meat samples and 40 (75.5 %) isolates of Salmonella showed resistance to two or more antimicrobial agents tested. Interestingly, all of the isolates were susceptible to Gentamycin and Ceftriaxone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The general sanitary condition of the butcher shops and utensils used and personnel hygiene were not to the recommended standards. Contamination of meat, knives, and meat handlers hand with Salmonella was found high. Furthermore; multidrug-resistant Salmonella is circulating in the butchers' shop which is strong enough to warrant the revision of butcher shops sanitation policy and treatment regimen for infections implicated by Salmonella in the study area. Further in-depth study including serotyping and antimicrobial resistant gene identification is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, St Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Legesse
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Garedew
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Zenabu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hagos
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Zelalem
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Addis
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical and laboratory Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Reta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tesfaye
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical and laboratory Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Bidir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zegeye
keywords: Antimicrobial susceptibility; Butcher shops; Gondar; Hygiene; Salmonella