Bacteriological Assessment of Barber’s Clipper in Barbers’ Shops in Ugbowo, Benin City

This study was carried out to isolate and identify bacteria associated with barbers’ clipper in barbers’ shops in Ugbowo, Benin City, Edo State. A total of thirty (30) barbing salon operating within Ugbowo district were randomly selected for this study. Sixty (60) samples were collected from the different shops. Sterile swab sticks were used to obtain samples from the surface of barbers’ clippers and were immediately sealed to prevent contamination. Identification of isolates was done using Gram staining technique and biochemical tests. Antibiotic susceptibility test was also carried out on isolated bacteria using disc diffusion method. The result revealed the presence of Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa on barbers’ clipper. S. aureus was the most prevalent isolate while the least distributed bacterial isolate was K. pneumonia. Antibacterial susceptibility test result showed that E. coli was resistant to all test antibiotics. K. pneumonia and S. aureus were both susceptible to streptomycin and gentamicin. P. aeruginosa was resistant to cephazolin, novobiocin, erythromycin and susceptible to ofloxacin and cirofloxacin. This study has shown that barbers’ clipper harbour bacterial organisms which can be potentially pathogenic and may promote the spread of infection to human. It is therefore recommended that barbers must properly sterilize their hair clippers and other barbing tools before been used on their customers, in order to reduce the spread of infection