Market fish hygiene in Kenya.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus was isolated from 53 out of 584 samples (9.1%) of market fish. All strains were Kanagawa negative and were distributed as follows: sea fish 5 out of 370 samples (1.4%), shellfish 48 out of 214 samles (22.4%). Other fish spoilage microflora recovered were: Alcaligenes faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Aeromonas spp. and Vibrio alginolyticus. Total aerobic counts and coliform counts per gram for the lake fish ranged from 2.6 X 10(2) to 6.6 X 10(7) and 10 to 1.0 X 10(2), respectively. Those from marine fish ranged from 1.0 X 10(5) to 8.8 X 10(6) and 2.0 X 10(3) to 1.6 X 10(4), respectively. Counts for marine fish gills alone ranged from 1.4 X 10(5) to 3.4 X 10(8) and 7.2 X 10(2) to 1.4 X 10(7), respectively. No high-temperature (44 degrees) coliforms were recovered from either lake or marine samples.