Dr. Christine Makena is a Veterinary public health specialist with great skills in zoonotic diseases, One Health, laboratory sample processing, analysis and scientific research and writing. I studied my bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Medicine (BVM) at the University of Nairobi, afterwards I started doing Master’s degree at the same university and graduated with Master’s in Veterinary Public Health. During my research for my Master’s, I joined International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) as a graduate fellow and during this period, I gained skills in scientific research, sample processing and analysis and reporting writing. I have attended a number of master classes while at ILRI mostly organized by the Horn of Africa concerning One Health.
Currently I am writing newsletters and blogs on pets (food, accessories, and diseases). I am open to doing any task that fits my potential.
Prevalence and characterization of bacteria of genus Salmonella in retail pork and raw vegetables, Busia County.
Salmonellosis is a major global threat to public health and causes emergence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant strains. Samples collected from selected butcheries were 451 consisting of 262 raw pork, 108 cooked pork and 81 side salads served alongside cooked pork. Samples were cultured in Salmonella selective media in Busia ILRI laboratories. Isolated Salmonella spp. were afterwards identified using genus antiserum at the UoN laboratories. Serotyping was done using Kauffmann-Whyte scheme and antimicrobial sensitivity was determined using disc diffusion method. The overall Salmonella prevalence of retail pork was 32.59% (147/451 95% CI 32.40% - 32.80%). Raw pork recorded the highest prevalence of 49.24% (129/262 95% CI 48.86% - 49.61%), followed by raw vegetables with 19.75% (16/81 95% CI 18.79% - 20.72%) and cooked pork recorded the least with 1.85% (2/108 95% CI 1.65% - 2.10%). Salmonella-positive isolates were highly resistant to the antibiotics used with an overall resistance of 135/147 (91.84%). 67/147 (45.58%) of the samples had multidrug resistance while 99/147 (67.35%) had extended drug resistance. Overall, the isolates had the highest resistance to Gentamicin (63.94%) followed by Ampicillin (59.86%).
This study generated evidence for the first time on the high prevalence of Salmonella in pork butcheries. It is evidence in this study that retail pork and raw vegetables are able to carry a wide variety of non-typhoidal salmonella that are capable of causing diarrheal diseases in people. The study highlights that retail pork and raw vegetables served alongside cooked pork have increased resistance to commonly used antibiotics such as ampicillin, hence the humans are at risk of consuming the resistant strains
Master’s in Veterinary Public Health.
Research Supervisors
Prof. James Mbaria (BVM, MSc, PhD),
Dr. Peter Baaro Gathura, (BVM, MSc, PhD),
Dr. Lian Thomas (BSc. Hons, MSc, DVM, PhD, MRCVS)
J56 / 9955 / 2018
Prevalence and characterization of bacteria of genus Salmonella in retail pork and raw vegetables, Busia County.
