Bacterial contaminants of new disposable ready-to-use plastic cups sold within Gombe Metropolis, Gombe State, Nigeria

Background: Disposable cups are usually used for drinking without any form of pre-cleaning, this has the potential to expose individuals to pathogenic microorganisms, and unfortunately this issue has not been investigated in Gombe metropolis, hence, this study aimed to investigate the bacteriological aspect of the problem and to reduce the existing knowledge gap regarding this problem. Methods: Thirty samples were collected using simple random sampling from two different markets, then swab sticks pre-moistened with peptone water were used to swab the inner portions of the cups, put in sterile distilled water, serially diluted, inoculated on nutrient agar, and incubated. Identification of the isolates were done using their physical and biochemical characteristics, antibiotic susceptibility tests were done using disc diffusion method and interpreted using Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Results: The total mesophilic bacterial counts ranged from 3.0×105 to 9.9×105 CFU/ml. These isolates were identified and tested for their sensitivity to some antibiotics which revealed that Escherichia coli (E.coli ) were sensitive to augmentin, ampicillin, and ciprofloxacin, but intermediately resistant to chloramphenicol, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were sensitive to ciprofloxacin and augmentin, intermediately resistant to chloramphenicol, and resistant to ampicillin. Bacillus spp were sensitive to augmentin, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol and ampicillin, while Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P.aeruginosa) were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, augmentin, and chloramphenicol, but intermediately resistant to ampicillin. Conclusion: These new disposable ready-to-use cups harbored some potentially pathogenic bacteria which were resistant to some antibiotics. It is therefore recommended that pre-use hygiene practices should be done on these cups prior to use to avert the health effects of consuming these bacteria.