Phenotypic Identification and Antibiotics Susceptibility Profile of Staphylococcus aureus from Surgical Equipment and Hospital Environment in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the prominent causes of hospital-acquired bacteremia. Despite the availability of anti-staphylococcal antibiotics, hospital acquired S. aureus bacteremia is still a major problem with considerable morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to isolate, identify and determine the Antibiotics susceptibility profile of Staphylococcus aureus from the surfaces of surgical equipment and environment of major public and private hospitals in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria using colonial characteristics, microscopy and conventional biochemical techniques. The Antibiotics susceptibility profile of the isolates was determined in accordance with the Guidelines of Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI). A total of three hundred and fifty (350) swab samples comprising of fourty (40) from surgical equipment and three hundred and ten (310) from the environment were collected from three (3) different public and private hospitals within Lokoja metropolis. The results obtained showed that 110(31.4%) of samples from the hospital environment were confirmed positive for Staphylococcus aureus with Hospital A constituting 30(8.6%), Hospital B had 59(16.8%) and Hospital C recorded 21 (6.0%). Of the 19 selected S. aureus isolates for antimicrobial susceptibility screening, 10.52% and 5.26% were intermediately resistant to Norfloxacin and Chloramphenicol respectively. Furthermore, the screened S. aureus isolates showed 100% susceptible to Ciprofloxacin, Gentamicin and Erythromycin; 94.73% susceptible to Chloramphenicol and 89.47% susceptible to Levoflaxin. The result also revealed 100% resistance to Penicillin and 15.78% resistance to Rifampicin. The high presence of Staphylococcus aureus in the hospital environment is a potential threat to the health of the patients and the public as this organism has been implicated in several human diseases, especially hospital- acquired bacteremia. Therefore, improved personal and public hygienic practices within the hospitals are required to reduce the high presence of S. aureus and other pathogenic microorganisms.