Detection and public health risks of Salmonella spp and other pathogens in eggs

Salmonellosis and some other illnesses have been documented to be acquired through consumption of infected raw or undercooked foods such as eggs. Large population of human and animals around the Federal Capital Territory (F.C.T.), Abuja could be at risk due to the high consumption of this important food materials. Therefore, the aim of this study was to isolate and identify Salmonella spp and the related bacteria pathogens from the eggshells and the egg contents of samples obtained from five (5) deep liter farms within the FCT, Abuja, Nigeria. A total number of 150 samples of eggs, 30 each from the selected deep liter farms viz; Lugbe, Abaji, Kuje, Gwagwalada and Madalla were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella spp. and other pathogens using conventional culture method. The results revealed that 20.8% of the total bacteria count from all the egg content were contaminated with Salmonella spp. Other bacteria pathogens like E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus were isolated from both the egg shells and the egg contents. The observation was similar to literatures but the occurrence of these pathogens in the egg content was higher than expected.

Therefore, the present study provides a recent data-generation of the prevalence of S. typhimurium and other pathogens in eggs at farm level in the selected locations in the FCT, Nigeria. It is important to remember that necessary control is required at all levels in the egg production chain and strict hygiene is needed to avoid epidemic resulting from the consumption of eggs.