Microbial Analysis of Second Hand Children Socks Sold in Some Selected Markets in Makurdi Metropolis, Nigeria

Second hand children socks were analysed for microbial contaminants. A total number of 50 samples were collected from three major markets in Makurdi metropolis namely; Wadata, Wurukum and Modern markets and were transported immediately to the laboratory in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Agriculture Makurdi for analysis. Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp and Bacillus spp were the bacteria isolated and Aspergillus spp, Penicillium spp, Mucor spp, Candida albicans and Yeast cell were the fungi species isolated. Staphylococcus aureus occurred more with frequency of 21 (75.0%) and Bacillus spp occurred least with frequency of 1 (3.5%), while Streptococcus spp had a frequency of 6 (21.4%). In respect to the various markets, study shows that Wadata market has the highest number of bacteria with frequency of 15 among the three different suspected bacteria, followed by Wurukum market with frequency of 9 and Modern market with frequency of 4. Aspergillus spp has the highest number of occurrence with frequency of 15 (60%) followed by Mucor spp with the frequency of 6 (24%). The least are Penicillium spp and Yeast cell with frequency of 1 and 4% each, Candida albicans had frequency of 2 (% 8). Frequency of fungi was highest in Wadata market with a frequency of 9, while Wurukum and Modern markets had equal number of occurrence with frequency of 6 each. High microbial loads were observed in this study with respect to second hand children socks. Therefore, disinfecting of second hand children socks is highly recommended before use, to avoid infections from these organisms.