Abstract

This study evaluated the antibiotics susceptibility profile of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from human clinical  samples in Abuja, Nigeria. Sample collection and identification of isolates were performed using standard microbiological techniques. Agar disc diffusion method was employed to determine the antibiotics susceptibility profile of the isolates. The result showed that out of 192 samples collected from 6 area councils in Abuja, the prevalence rate of S. aureus was 38% (73/192). The highest isolation rate of S. aureus was observed in wound sample (53.1%), followed by Ear (47.4%) and urethral swab (47.1%) while the least was observed in high vaginal swab (30.8%). The age group mainly affected were ages 20-29 (24), 30-39 years (21) and ≤ 10 (16). The least isolation rate was observed in age groups   0-19 (8) and ≥ 40 (5). Samples from female patients had the highest occurrence of S. aureus 64.38% (47) compared to the male 35.62% (26). Statistically, there was no significant difference in the occurrence of S. aureus from the various area councils sampled at P value ≤ 0.05. The antibiotics susceptibility study showed that Vancomycin was the most effective drug of choice (100%) for the treatment of infections associated with S. aureus. High resistance was observed against Cefoxitin (86.3%), Amoxicillin (84.9%), Oxacillin (71.2%), Tetracycline (67.1%), Erythromycin (61.6%), Ceftazidime (56.2%), Clindamycin (38.4%), Ciprofloxacin (34.2%) and Linezolid (26%). Significant numbers of the isolates (24.7%) were multidrug resistant based on class of antibiotics while 65.8% of the isolates had multiple antibiotics resistance index (MARI) ≥ 0.3.