en تخصصي Special Original article Original article <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Background:</strong> <em>Enterococcus </em>spp., belonging to the group of lactic acid bacteria, are Gram-positive ubiquitous commensals of the intestines of human beings as well as warm-blooded animals. The main objective of this study was to determine the occurrence and antimicrobial resistance of <em>Enterococcus</em> spp. isolated from lettuce and irrigation water in Abidjan, C&ocirc;te d&#39;Ivoire.<br> <strong>Methods:</strong> A total of 72 samples, including leaves of lettuce (n=36) and irrigation water (n=36) were randomly collected from three different agricultural sites located in Abidjan city, C&ocirc;te d&#39;Ivoire. After microbial analysis and identification of <em>Enterococcus</em> spp. by culturing and biochemical methods, antimicrobial susceptibility tests were carried out using disk diffusion method. Data were analyzed by statistical processing software R (R 3.0 for Windows).<br> <strong>Results:</strong> <em>E. faecalis</em> was recognized as the most prevalent strain which was found in 27 out of 36 (75%) lettuce as well as 29 out of 36 (80.5%) irrigation water samples. The mean <em>Enterococcus</em> load of lettuces and irrigation water samples were 2.3&plusmn;0.7 and 3.6&plusmn;2 log Colony Forming Unit per g lettuce, respectively. Among 45 studied enterococci isolates, the most antibiotic-resistance rates were related to erythromycin (54%) and also co-trimoxazole (49%).<br> <strong>Conclusion:</strong> There is a considerable public health concern regarding raw consumption of lettuce cultivated in Abidjan city which can cause gastroenteritis diseases in consumers.</span><br> &nbsp;</p> Enterococcus, Lettuce, Water, Drug Resistance Microbial 20 23 http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-141&slc_lang=en&sid=1 I.K. Kouadio kouaminos@yahoo.fr Yes Food Microbiology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Nanguy Abrogoua University, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire N. Guessennd No National Reference Center for Antibiotics, Pasteur Institute, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire A. Dadié No Food Microbiology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Nanguy Abrogoua University, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire V. Gbonon No National Reference Center for Antibiotics, Pasteur Institute, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire B. Tiékoura No National Reference Center for Antibiotics, Pasteur Institute, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire M.B. Ouattara No Food Microbiology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Nanguy Abrogoua University, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire F. Konan No 2. National Reference Center for Antibiotics, Pasteur Institute, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire M. Dje No Food Microbiology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Nanguy Abrogoua University, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire M. Dosso No National Reference Center for Antibiotics, Pasteur Institute, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire