Prevalence of Salmonella in Asymptomatic Food Handlers in Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya

Salmonella are Gram-negative, facultative, intracellular, anaerobic bacteria that cause a wide range of diseases in diverse hosts. Ranging from gastroenteritis, enteric fever, bacteraemia and focal infections, these infections can lead to a convalescent lifetime carrier status/asymptomatic carriers. The aim of this study was to isolate, characterize and determine the prevalence of Salmonella species from stool samples of asymptomatic food handlers in Westlands Nairobi, Kenya. Being an epidemiological study, a cross sectional laboratory based design was employed. A total of 400 stool samples were used. The samples were cultured in both selective and differential media for isolation of Salmonella sp; serotyping and biochemical test was conducted for the confirmation of the isolated bacterial strains respectively. A total of 6 serotypes were isolated indicating a total prevalence of 2 %, namely; Salmonella Paratyphi A, S. Paratyphi B and S. Enteritidis each with a percentage occurrence of 0.5 %, S. Typhimurium, S. Typhisuis with a percentage occurence of 0.25 %. Although a Salmonella prevalence of 2 % in the developing countries can be considered as an insignificant figure, it indicates a probability of Salmonella infection being passed to the food consumers by the asymptomatic food handlers, posing a health risk to the unsuspecting food consumers.