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Background: The emergence and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria has become a serious problem worldwide. Houseflies are potential carriers of pathogenic and resistant bacteria and could be contributing to the global spread of these strains in the environments. We investigated the prevalence and antimicrobial resistant profiles of bacteria isolated from houseflies in Akure. Methods: Twenty-five houseflies were captured by a sterile nylon net from the slaughterhouse, garbage dump, human house, hospital, and eatery from 9:00am to 1:00pm when the flies were active and transported immediately to the laboratory in sterile containers for processing. Bacterial loads were enumerated by serial dilution and plating on nutrient agar and selective media. Bacteria species were isolated by conventional isolation technique. Antibiotic susceptibility test was determined by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. Results: Sixty-seven bacterial species were isolated from 25 samples that were collected. The predominant bacterial species was Escherichia coli (n= 31, 45%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (n= 17, 25%), Staphylococcus aureus (n= 11, 16%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n= 3, 4.3%). The bacterial load of the samples ranged from 9.7×105CFU/mL to 1.65×106 CFU/mL. The results revealed that all isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp, and Proteus mirabilis were resistant to streptomycin and cotrimoxazole, augmentin and amoxicillin respectively. None of the S. aureus isolates was resistant to cotrimoxazole, chloramphenicol, sparfloxacin, augmentin, and ofloxacin. All isolates were multi-drug resistant. Conclusion: House flies that were collected from the slaughterhouse, garbage dump, human house, hospital, and eatery may participate in the dispersal of pathogenic and resistant bacteria in the study environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Houseflies caught on refuse dumps in six areas of Ibadan were dissected and the intestinal parasitic cysts and eggs which were found in their alimentary canal were similar to those found in the examined faeces of the community living in the environment. Strongly eggs were also found in the alimentary canal of Musca species which had fed on the faeces of an infected sheep. While the houseflies caught in the living quarters the high income group were free of parasites, some of these caught in and around low income group residential areas possessed various parasitic eggs and cysts. Musca domestica specimens were exposed in the laboratory to eggs of three intestinal parasites. Their ability to transmit these eggs by regurgitation was highest within 1/2 hour of ingestion and it decreased with time until it was lost after 2 hours.