The Enterobacter are often found in the feces of man and
other warm blooded animals but have limited use as indicators
of fecal contamination of foods and water since they are also
often found as natural flora of non-fecal environments such
as water and plants. This study proposes a method that may
be useful for differentiating between fecal and non-fecal
Enterobacter. Coliform bacteria associated with the human
fecal environment often have a high incidence of multiple
resistance to antibiotics. By determining multiple drug
resistance and indexing Enterobacter in reference to their
environmental source, it was discovered that isolates from
human feces, raw sewage and certain foods demonstrated a higher
index than isolates from rural soils, wild animal feces,
cereal grains and other non-human environments. An index
value greater than 0.2 indicated isolates from environments
contaminated with human feces representing a high health risk
while those isolates with an index of less than 0.2 came from
relatively safe environments.
Traditionally, the assessment of food borne health
hazards is determined by measuring the quantity and kind of
bacteria present. Drug resistance indexing will compliment
these tests and aid in identifying serious bacterial contamination
of foods. / Graduation date: 1981
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/27488 |
| Date | 28 May 1980 |
| Creators | Shadbeh, Maryam |
| Contributors | Krumperman, Paul H. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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