Abstract

Stool samples from 2,200 patients with gastrointestinal tract (GIT) infections and 900 apparently healthy food vendors were collected in Lagos, Nigeria and examined to determine incidence and distribution of bacterial pathogens using standard microbiological methods. The isolates recovered were identified to belong to seven genera which include Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia, Proteus, Klebsiella, Vibrio and Enterobacter. Salmonella typhi was the most prevalent, followed by Escherichia coli, while Klebsiella species was the least encountered. Most of the food vendors fell within the age range of 21 years and above constituting 78.4% of the food vendors examined. This study underscores the need to monitor the carriage of enteric pathogens among patients and apparently healthy food vendors. This study further implicates food vendors as a great threat to the health of the public since some of them were carriers of the pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, it is recommended that there should be enlightenment, training for, and vaccination of the vendors accordingly as well as periodic surveillance.

Key words: Enteric pathogens, patients, infections, food vendors, Salmonella species.