Isolation of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii from street vended cut fruits sold in Dhaka city of Bangladesh and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern

Abstract

The consumption of street vended ready-to-eat cut fruits is very common in Dhaka City. Since fresh produce is eaten raw, it can also pose a public health risk. So, this study was undertaken for the isolation and identification of Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae from different street-vended fresh-cut fruits of 11 different areas of Dhaka city to investigate the occurrence of pathogen in fruits from water or hand of the vendor. In this study, 68 Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae were found from 50 samples. Three categories of samples (fruits, hand swab and water) were collected from each vendor. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was done using selective primers for both of the organisms. 61 out of 69 (88.4%) isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae and 7 out of 12 (58.3%) isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii were confirmed. Klebsiella pneumoniae were found from all four type of fruits. Acinetobacter baumannii were found in all types of fruits except papaya. Among them, highest and lowest isolates of bacteria were found from pineapple and hog plum respectively. Klebsiella pneumoniae was found from fruit water and/or hand swab samples in 9 out of 11 vendors. Acinetobacter baumannii was found from both water and fruit samples from only one vendor. Antibiotic susceptibility test was done by using 10 antibiotics of different groups. All the isolates were resistant to Amoxicillin (78.5%), Tetracylin (82.3%), Imipenem (18%), Amikacin (17.72%), Levofloxacin (12.65%), Colistin (50.63%), Nalidixic acid (15.2%), Ceftriaxone (20.25%), Ceftazidime (29.11%) and Gentamycin (13.92%). In fact, 43% of Acinetobacter baumannii and 13.43% of Klebsiella pneumoniae were found as multidrug resistant.