Dr. Joseph Omololu-Aso, Sotala T, Omololu-Aso OO
Introduction: The incidence of Infant diarrheal disease is a global problem which is more prevalent in developing countries. The survey was conducted to evaluate infant diarrhea, among school children and implicated bacterial pathogens in Shomolu Local Government Area, Lagos State, Nigeria.
Materials and Methods: Ethical permissions were obtained, research questionnaires were administered to mothers with children below five years old and forty five samples i.e., lunch boxes/baskets obtained in groups of nine at five different schools within the study area were used for the analysis. Research questions were generated, various hypotheses were tested, and analysis of questionnaires (using SPSS Data analysis), case records and laboratory results were appropriately analyzed using conventional methods of isolating both enterobacteriaceae and other Gram positive organisms as basis for generating inferences in the study.
Result: All the examined lunch boxes/baskets were contaminated with at least two bacterial species and five bacteria species were recovered from the samples namely; Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysenteriae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Staphylococcus aureus (29.4%) was the most frequent isolates followed by Shigella dysenteriae (26.5%), Salmonella typhi (24.5%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.8%) while Escherichia coli (7.8%) were the least frequent isolates.
Conclusion: Unhygienic practices, inadequate education and knowledge about basic food safety issues were responsible frequent diarrheal episodes. Food safety education of the target population and enforcement of existing laws on environmental sanitation and hygiene as a basic preventive strategy is hereby recommended.
Keywords: Infant diarrhea; Lunch box; pathogens; contaminant; hygiene
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