RESEARCH ARTICLE


Prevalence, Antibiogram and Molecular Characterization of Comunity-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in AWKA, Anambra Nigeria



Blessing Ike, Malachy C. Ugwu*, Moses N. Ikegbunam, David Nwobodo, Chika Ejikeugwu, Thaddeus Gugu, Charles O. Esimone
Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra Nigeria


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Creative Commons License
© Ike et al.; Licensee Bentham Open

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra, Nigeria; Tel: +234 8039460570; E-mail: mc.ugwu@unizik.edu.ng


Abstract

Objectives:

This study evaluated the prevalence, antibiogram and molecular features of CA-MRSA in Awka, Nigeria.

Methods:

Confirmation of MRSA was done by testing resistance to oxacillin (1µg), cloxacillin (5µg) and cefoxitin (30µg) on sterile Mueller Hinton agar supplemented with 4% sodium chloride. The MRSA strains were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentration was determined using agar dilution method. Penicillin binding protein 2a was detected through rapid latex agglutination assay while mecA gene was detected by polymerase chain reaction. A total of 142 S. aureus isolates were obtained from 261 samples sourced from Staff, students and fomites of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Result:

The overall prevalence of MRSA was 22.6%. The carriage rate was higher in females (56.5%) than male (43.5%) and was highest in individuals of 20-30 years of age (57.65%). The MIC of the oxacillin sodium salt ranged from 4-32 μg/ml. The multi-antibiotic resistance indices show that 53.4% had Multiple Antibiotic Resistance Indexing (MARI) higher than 0.2. Penicillin binding protein 2a was detected in 8.4% of MRSA isolates, all from nasal carriage while mecA gene was detected in 5 of isolates.

Conclusion:

This study showed a very high prevalence of MRSA carriage among studied subjects.

Keywords: Antibiogram, Community-associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA), Mec A gene, PBP2a, Prevalence, Nigeria.