Abstract

Public transport vehicles serve as a significant mode of daily commuting in urban centres. This study was carried out to appraise the population and antibiotic susceptibility of bacteria associated with contact surfaces of public transport vehicles in Port Harcourt metropolis, Nigeria. Motor-parks chosen for the study were; Mile-3 motor-park (M3MP), Rumuokoro motor-park (RMP), and Rivers State University motor-park (RSUMP). Samples were collected from the door-handles and dash-boards of some taxis with moistened sterile swab sticks and  transported to the Microbiology laboratory, Rivers State University (RSU) for analysis using standard microbiological procedures. Results revealed that bacterial populations on door handles and dash-boards of taxis in M3MP plying Mile-3 to Iwofe were 2.16±3.25 × 10² and 1.42±1.06 × 10² CFU/cm² , Mile-3 to Choba; 2.56±1.15 × 10² and 1.05±1.02 × 10³ CFU/cm², Rumuokoro to Choba; 2.79±1.65 × 10² and 5.47±6.72 × 10² CFU/cm², Rumuokoro to Rumudara; 66.4±35.1 and 172±89 CFU/cm² and RSUMP to RSU back-gate route; 1.68±1.34 × 10³ and 2.63±1.72 × 10³ CFU/cm² respectively. The highest bacterial population on door-handles and dashboards were observed in taxis in RSU motor-park plying the back-gate route. Bacteria types isolated were Bacillus spp., Staphylococcus spp., Micrococcus spp., Serratia spp., Pseudomonas sp., Proteus spp., Klebsiella spp., Citrobacter sedlakii, Enterobacter spp., Edwardsiella ictaluri, Mixta theicola, and Yersinia kristensenii. The bacteria from taxis of the different routes were all susceptible to gentamycin, except Staphylococcus aureus and S. saprophyticus from door-handles.  M3MP; Mixta theicola from dashboards of vehicles in M3MP; Bacillus megaterium from door-handles of taxis in RMP; Pseudomonas sp. and Mixta theicola from dashboards of taxis in RSUMP. It is concluded that door-handles and dashboards of public transport vehicles in Port Harcourt metropolis are potential sources of dissemination of infections.