ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTIBIOGRAM OF BACTERIAL PATHOGENS ISOLATED FROM MILK OF COW, GOAT AND SHEEP

Abstract

Bacteriological analyses of the milks of cow, sheep and goat were conducted in Keffi, North-Central Nigeria. The bacteriological analyses revealed the presence of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris and Salmonella spp. This study also revealed a total heterotrophic count, total faecal count and coliform count (×104cfu/ml) in the cow, sheep and goats milk to be 4.8, 1.0 and 2.9; 4.5, 0.6 and 2.5; 3.6, 0.4 and1.6 respectively. However, rate of occurrences of the respective isolates indicate varying degree of occurrences. E. coli and Salmonella spp. had the highest occurrences of 86.7% each. Percentage occurrence in descending order is in the order: Staphylococcus aureus (80.0%), followed by Klebsiella spp. (73.3%), P. aeruginosa (66.7%), then Proteus vulgaris (33.3%)