Multiple Antibiotic Resistance Pattern among Staphylococcus Aureus Strains Isolated from South/Western Nigeria Academic Teaching Hospital and the Environs…Which Way Out?

Widespread use of antibiotics has been responsible for the development of numerous problems including the emergence of multi-drug resistance bacteria and increased number of hospital acquired infections with increase health care costs. Eight hundred and fifty samples of different cultures were taken from clinical and non- clinical sources. The clinical sources were the routine specimens of wound swabs, urine, stool, blood and sputum from the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology laboratory of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC) Ile–Ife. The non-clinical samples were obtained from the nasal cavity of apparently healthy food handlers at restaurants in Obafemi Awolowo University campus and food vendors in Ile–Ife central market. Samples were cultured on mannitol salt agar and incubated at 37oC for 24-48 hours. Staphylococcus aureus were isolated and identified based on mannitol fermentation, Gram’s reaction, positive results for catalase, coagulase and DNAse tests. Susceptibility of the isolates to eight different antibiotics was tested using the disk diffusion technique. Inducible resistance of clindamycin by erythromycin was performed on the isolates. Four hundred and five (405) S. aureus isolates were identified from 770 presumptive staphylococci based on positive results for coagulase and DNase tests. These comprised 56.8% clinical and 43.2% non-clinical isolates. All the urine isolates were resistant to penicillin. All other isolates from both sources were resistant to penicillin at variance higher levels. Among the clinical isolates, resistance to chloramphenicol was the highest (91%), followed by ciprofloxacin (70%) and gentamicin (69%). Among the non-clinical isolates, 62% from the food handlers and cell phones were resistant to cefoxitin. The prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus was 18%. One hundred and one (101) multiple antibiotic resistance patterns comprising 58 and 43 were observed among clinical and non-clinical isolates, respectively. Majority of the Clinical isolates constituted 4.8%, MRSA. 27.4% MSSA, 45.2% MDR/MRSA, 22.6% MDR/MSSA and Non- Clinical were 10.3% MRSA, 23.4% MSSA, 52.6% MDR/MRSA and MDR/MSSA types. The study concluded that S. aureus was implicated in a wide variety of infections and the prevalence of multiple antibiotic resistance types were high in the study area.