Prevalence and Antibiogram of <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> Isolated from Animals, Humans and Environmental Samples in Jos Metropolis, Plateau State, Nigeria

Listeria monocytogenes is an infectious foodborne pathogen causing the disease listeriosis which is considered a serious public health problem due to severity of symptoms and its high mortality rate specially in high-risk group. The study aimed to determine the prevalence and antibiogram of L. monocytogenes isolated from cattle, humans and environment samples at cattle farms in Jos Metropolis, Plateau State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study was carried out using multistage sampling technique in three selected Local Government Areas where 254 milk, 55 faeces, 227 hand swabs, 95 cloth swabs, 107 water and 104 soil samples totalling 842 samples were collected. The ISO 11290-1 protocol was used aseptically to phenotypically characterize the isolates and the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method was used to determine the antibiogram. Data obtained were subjected to descriptive statistics using SPSS 25.0. Results showed out of the 842 samples 58 (6.89%) were positive for Listeria species. Distribution of the Listeria species showed that 12 (20.69%) were L. monocytogenes . The frequency of isolation of L. monocytogenes based on location was highest in Jos South LGA (2.08%) and the association was statistically significant ( p <0.05). The occurrence of L. monocytogenes from the highest to the lowest prevalence was observed in cloth swabs (3.16%), hand swab (2.20%), faecal sample (1.82%) and milk (1.18%) and association was not statistically significant ( p >0.05). The isolates tested against 10 antibiotics, showed 100% resistance to ceftazidime, 91.7% to ampicillin, 91.7% ceftriaxone, 83.3% to sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim while all (100%) were susceptible to ciprofloxacin. The antibiogram showed majority (91.7%) the isolates were resistance to at least four antimicrobial agents in at least three classes of antibiotics. The mean MAR index is 0.58 ± 0.2. These results are of a public health significance because this pathogenic organism have been shown to cross-contaminate meat and other animal products.