Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance of Pathogenic Bacteria Isolated from Cuticles of Blattella germanica and Periplaneta americana in Gizan City, Saudi Arabia

Cockroaches are major microbial vectors around human dwellings that cause serious public health threats. They harbor a number of pathogenic bacteria on their cuticles with antimicrobial resistance. This study aims at investigating the bacterial carriage of Blattella germanica, and Periplaneta americana and their antimicrobial resistance in Gizan, Saudi Arabia. 152 cockroaches were trapped in houses in Gizan City during January - July 2018. Standard methods were followed in all the microbiological investigations and antibiotic susceptibility tests using Vitek2 Automated Microbiology System, Biomerieux (R). All of the 152 cockroaches were found with bacteria load on their cuticles. Twenty tow species of bacteria belonging to ten genera were identified. However, Klebsiella pneumoniae 33 (21.7%), Serratia marcescens 26 (17.1 %), and Pantoea agglomerans 20 (13.1%) were the predominant isolates. Half of the isolates 11 (50. %) were multidrug-resistant strains. High resistance percentages were noted to Ampicillin and Amoxicillin clavulanate (41%), Cefoxitin (36%) and Cefazolin and Fosfomycin (27%). Cockroaches are potential source of pathogenic bacteria with multidrug resistant strains. This fact implies the epidemiological risks, complicating therapeutics, and leads to more medical costs in urban environments. Preventive and control measures are highly needed to minimize cockroach related food-borne diseases and other infections.