PREVALENCE OF MULTI-DRUG RESISTANT BACTERIA IN (PIPER BETEL L) LEAF WASHED-WATER OF THE ROAD SIDE PAN STALL IN NORTH BENGAL

Swapan Kumar Chowdhury*

The current study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of multi-drug resistant pathogenic bacteria in Betel (Piper betel L) leaf washed-water of the road side pan stall in North Bengal. This study deals with the determining of coliform counts through MPN test, total heterotrophic load of bacteria, isolation and identification of the Bacteria through plating on different selective medium and determination of multiple antibiotic resistance Bacteria. MPN test shows that sample -2, sample-5 and sample-6 gives positive results. Total heterotrophic load of sample 1 was 5.85 ´ 10⁵ colony forming unit per milliliter (cfu/ml), sample 2 was 6.64 ´10⁵ cfu/ml, sample 3 was 27.8 ´ 10⁵ cfu/ml, sample 4 was 12.1´ 10⁵ cfu/ml, and sample 5 was 23.2 ´ 10⁵ cfu/ml. Many antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria are found in leaf wash-water. Significance and impact of this study is to create awareness among the common peoples who are chewing pan regularly.