Drinking water packaged in plastic bags is very popular with people because of its affordable cost, its refreshing character, its ease of consumption and its accessibility. However, the dubious quality and the lack of hygiene noted around its sale, raise fears of the risk of waterborne infection. Our descriptive cross-sectional study took place over a period of 5 months, from March to July 2014, a total of 520 plastic water bags were purchased from different suppliers in the ten regions of Cameroon. The membrane filtration method was used and the cultures were made on VRBLA (Violet Red Bile Lactose Agar) medium. After analyzing these 520 sachets of 28 different brands, we obtained the following results: Twenty brands (71%) presented a positive culture and therefore unsuitable for consumption; Eight brands showed a sterile culture and 58.65% of positive cultures, therefore not satisfactory. The regions with the highest number of isolates were those of the North and the Far North with 20.74% each. We also noted that 58.50% of isolated germs were total coliforms. We also noted that 35% of isolated germs gave a positive result to the synergy test and a prevalence of 7% for CTX-M type ESBLs. In addition, ESBL presented 100% resistance to the following antibiotics: Cefepime, Cefotaxime, Ceftriaxone, and Ticarcillin. Most of the water in plastic bags sold in Cameroon was unfit for consumption because it contained Gram-negative bacilli.

Keywords : ESBL, CTX-M, Resistance, Drinking water in sachets, bacteriological quality, Cameroon.