Isolation, Identification and Determination of Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Some Bacteria Associated with Upper Respiratory Tract Infections

Infection of the respiratory tract is regarded as the most common infection among humans worldwide. The present study was conducted to isolate, identify and determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of some bacteria associated with upper respiratory infections in Kano, Northern Nigeria. Nasal swabs were collected from a total of 45 patients including both male (n=26) and females (n=19), attending Yan-awaki Hospital, Kano and exhibiting upper respiratory infection manifestations. The samples collected were inoculated onto freshly prepared different bacteriological media such as Nutrient agar (NA), MacConkey Agar (MAC), blood agar, Methylene Blue Agar (EMB), Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA) (Life save Biotech, USA) and incubated at 37 °C for 24 hours to obtain pure culture of the bacteria. Identification of bacteria was performed on the basis of colony morphology, Gram staining and biochemical test. The bacteria isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing using the agar disc diffusion method. A total of 78 bacteria were isolated and 7 genera were identified as follows; Klebsiella 18 (23.2%), followed by S. aureus 15 (19.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa 14 (17.9%), E. coli 11 (14.1%), CoNS 9 (11.5%), and least number was recorded by Proteus 6 (7.7%) and Streptococcus 5 (6.4%). Most of the isolates showed susceptibility to Ciprofloxacin Vancomycin, Gentamicin, Tobramycin and Amoxicillin. It is recommended that bacteria are one of the etiological agents of upper respiratory tracts infection.

Keywords: Bacteria, Identification, Kano, Respiratory tract infection, Susceptibility pattern.