Abstract

Milk and milk products provide a wealth of nutrition benefits, and are widely consumed worldwide. But raw milks can harbor dangerous microorganisms such as Salmonella or Escherichia coli, that can pose serious health risks to human. In order to assess the prevalence and antibiotics susceptibilities of Salmonella spp. and E. coli isolated from raw milk and curds, a total of one hundred (100) samples were collected in eleven open markets in Ouagadougou  and  Ziniaré (two cities in the center of Burkina Faso) and analyzed using standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibility was tested using the standard disc diffusion method with eight (8) commonly used antibiotics. Our results showed that 44% of curds and 38% of raw milk samples were contaminated by E. coli. Only 6% of raw milk samples were contaminated by Salmonella spp. Salmonella was not detected in curd samples. Antibiotic susceptibility test revealed various rate of resistance of these bacteria to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (100%), erythromycin (up to 90%) and amoxicillin (75 to 78.26%). This study showed that raw milks and curds sold and consumed in markets are contaminated by resistant strains of E. coli and Salmonella spp. and their consumption can seriously affect the health of consumers.

Key words: Dairy products, contamination, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, antibiotic susceptibility, Burkina Faso.