Microbiological Quality of Drinking Water in Sachets Sold in the City of Yaoundé in Cameroon: Tests of Sensitivity to the Antibiotics of Bacteria Isolated

Abstract

Water is the basic drink for human beings and drinking water in sachets is very popular because of its relatively low cost and availability. The aim of this study is to determine the bacteriological profile of sachet drinking water sold in the city of Yaounde. It was a descriptive cross-sectional study covering the period from March to June 2019, carried out in the application laboratory of ETMS-Yaounde. A total of 230 samples of drinking water in sachets purchased in different markets in the city of Yaounde were analyzed using Mac Conkey's flooding method. The identification was done on the API 20 E Gallery and the susceptibility test on Mueller Hinton media. The size of the sample was 230 packaged sachet drinking water and 213 of the 230 revealed 92% of positive culture of germs, and only 17 samples gave a negative culture, at a percentage of 8% of isolated germs. The isolated bacterial species and their respective abundances in samples were Enterobacter gergoviae (3%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (5%), Proteus mirabilis (5%), Serratia fonticola (5%), Salmonella choler arizonae cloacae (8%), Salmonella spp. (8%), Enterobacter cloacae (10%), Staphylococcus aureus (10%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18%) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (28%). All these tested germs were resistant to Amoxicillin and Erythromycin and 70% of tested germs were sensitive to Gentamycin. Overall, the results revealed poor microbiological quality of these waters. This exposes consumers to health risks, and it is important to inform and sensitize consumers about the risks involved, to educate producers and to control their activities by the health services.