Antibiotic susceptibility and plasmid pattern of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the surgical unit of a university teaching hospital in north central Nigeria

A. T. Olayinka¹, B. O. Olayinka² and B. A. Onile³

¹Department of Medical Microbiology, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital,

Zaria, Nigeria.

²Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology,University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

³Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Microbiology,Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author E-mail: debolaola@yahoo.com.

Accepted 25 February, 2009

   Abstract

This study determined the susceptibility pattern and multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index of 92 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains from clinical samples comprising mainly urine (51.1%) and wounds (41.3%) obtained from the surgical units of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria; over a 24-month period. The strains were susceptible to imipenem (94.6%), ciprofloxacin (90.2%), amikacin (89.1%) and ceftazidime (78.3%) but resistant to ofloxacin (82.6%), perfloxacin (58.7%) and gentamicin (35.8%). Analysis of the MAR index of isolates revealed that 60.9% had MAR index of 0.3 and above, which is an indication of probable origin from the hospital environment where antibiotics are extensively used. A strict management of antibiotic policies and a continuous surveillance programme for multidrug resistant pathogens like P. aeruginosa in specialised units is advocated.

Key words: Antibiotic resistance, plasmid, Pseudomonas aeruginosa