Isolation of Aeromonas spp. from Food Products: Emerging Aeromonas Infections and Their Significance in Public Health

Aeromonas spp. are opportunistic pathogens causing a broad spectrum of human illnesses like gastroenteritis, chronic diarrhea, wound infections, peritonitis, urinary tract infections, and septicemia. Their ability to grow in foods stored in a refrigerator poses a substantial threat for human consumption. We investigated the prevalence of Aeromonas from commercial food products across Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A total of 250 samples were randomly collected and processed for the isolation and identification of Aeromonas by morphological and biochemical means and for their identification by PCR. A total of 102 strains of Aeromonas were isolated, including 47% from raw meat samples, 34% from raw fish samples, and 18.6% from milk and dairy products; 56.8% were identified as A. hydrophila and 43.1% as A. sobria. Antibiotic susceptibility tests done revealed 100% sensitivity to chloramphenicol, colistin, ciprofloxacin, and nitrofurantoin. 16S rDNA PCR revealed the presence of the 953 bp fragment in all the strains. The present investigation suggested the occurrences of A. sobria and A. hydrophila in human consumable stored and refrigerated foods.