P. AMERICANA AS AN INTESTINAL CARRIER OF NOSOCOMIAL AND FOOD BORNE BACTERIAL PATHOGENS

摘要

The study was undertaken to search the carrier potential of P. americana, the predominant cockroach species in India, of various human bacterial pathogen including L. monocytogenes in their intestine. Cockroaches were collected from tertiary care hospitals, domestic environments, market places and restaurants. Identification of the bacterial isolates from the aseptically removed intestine was carried out by standard bacteriological procedures (Cowan and Steel, 1974) including morphological, cultural, biochemical and physiological studies. Listeria species were isolated following USDA method. The bacteriological examination of the intestinal content of P. americana revealed the presence of various potential human bacterial pathogens including Listeria spp. The major bacteria with epidemiological significance in nosocomial infection isolated from the intestinal contents of P. americana were Enterococcus spp. (95.6percent), Klebsiella spp. (39.6percent) and Proteus spp. (36percent).51.2percent of cockroaches under study were found to be harboured with Listeria spp. The observations made in this study establish the possible role of the insect P. americana in carrying and transmitting human pathogens especially in nosocomial and food borne infections and goes to suggest that the pest cannot be ignored as a casual harmless inhabitant of the human environments.