Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance of Staphylococcus Aureus Isolated from Hospital Environments Located in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusand Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus are prevalentin hospitalized patients as well as tertiary healthcare facilities globally. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from 3 healthcare facilities located in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. The isolation of Staphylococcus aureus, their antibiotic susceptibility pattern and distribution of pathogenic and toxigenic genes by Polymerase chain reaction were carried out by established methods. The total heterotrophic and staphylococcal counts ranged from 163.33 × 103 ± 12.1 to 300 × 103 ± 0.00 cfu and 0.00 × 103 ± 0 cfu respectively for hospital 1; 1.0 × 103 ± 01 to 195.5 × 103 ± 14.7 cfu and 0.00 × 103 ± 0.0 to 49 × 103 ± 6.9 cfu for hospital 2; 2.0 × 103 to 300 × 103 cfu and 0.0 × 103 to 26 × 103 cfu for hospital 3. All isolates were further observed to be methicillinsensitive, with varying degree of resistance and susceptibility to 10 commonly used antibiotics. Finally, none of the MSSA strains possessed the mecA, entA and SCCmec1 genes. The result of this study indicated that MSSA is distributed in tertiary healthcare facilities located in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, and effort should be made at improving the sanitary conditions in these hospitals, to avoid outbreaks of MSSA infections.

Keywords: Methicillin, Antibiotics susceptibility, Infectious diseases, Public Health, Hospital