Occurrence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus from raw vegetables sold at local markets in Kota Samarahan, Sarawak

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a pathogenic bacterium that causes gastroenteritis disease where symptoms include watery diarrhea, vomiting and fever. V. parahaemolyticus is commonly found in seafood and marine water due to its halophilic properties and the ability to live well in aquatic conditions. Alt...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mimi Zianna, Panchar
Format: Final Year Project Report / IMRAD
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/5339/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/5339/3/Mimi%20Zianna%20Panchar.pdf
Description
Summary:Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a pathogenic bacterium that causes gastroenteritis disease where symptoms include watery diarrhea, vomiting and fever. V. parahaemolyticus is commonly found in seafood and marine water due to its halophilic properties and the ability to live well in aquatic conditions. Although this bacterium is less expected to be present in non-marine food such raw vegetables, concern arises as recent studies revealed the occurrence of V. parahaemolyticus in commonly eaten raw vegetables in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was conducted to isolate and identify V. parahaemolyticus in raw vegetables marketed in Kota Samarahan. Three types of vegetables were purchased randomly from two wet markets and two supermarkets in Kota Samarahan area. In this study, Alkaline Peptone Water (APW) with addition of 3% NaCl was used as enrichment medium. Preliminary isolation was performed using Thiosulphate Citrate Bile Salt Sucrose (TCBS) agar followed by isolation on CHROMagar Vibrio. Presumptively positive isolates were stored in nutrient agar slant supplemented with 3% NaCl. A series of biochemical tests were performed for the identification of V. parahaemolyticus isolates. Thirty-two (53.33%) out of the 60 samples showed positive green colonies on TCBS agar whereas only 15 samples (25.00%) were positive for mauve colonies after streaked onto CHROMagar Vibrio. However, none of the samples showed positive result of V. parahaemolyticus isolates after a series of biochemical tests.