ASSESSMENT OF THE SUSCEPTIBILITY PATTERN OF METHICILIN RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS IN DOOR KNOBS AND HANDLES IN MADONNA UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL NIGERIA (MUTH)

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Nosocomial infections or Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) can be defined as those occurring within 48 hours of hospital admission, 3 days of discharge or 30 days of an operation. HAIs or infections acquired in health-care settings are the most frequent adverse effect of health-care delivery worldwide. Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most implicated microbe causing nosocomial infection and the Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aurous (MRSA) is its prototype resistant strain. METHODOLOGY: 50 samples were collected by swapping different doors and knobs in the different department in the hospital. The presence of S. aureus was detected and isolated by growing in Mannitol salt agar and biochemically confirmed by coagolase test. MRSA was identified by growing in Muller Hilton agar impregnated with a perforated paper soaked in cloxacillin solution. Test for susceptibility was done using multiple antimicrobial disc and interpreted after 24 hours following standard laboratory guidelines. RESULT: 23 samples (46%) contained S. aureus and were all coagulase positive. 78.2% (n=18) samples of the isolates were MRSA. The antibiotic susceptibility showed that MRSA was completely resistant to Co-trimazole, imipenem, plazomicin and cefuroxime. There was varying sensitivity of MRSA to Augmentin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, gentamycin, azithromycin and ciprofloxacin with erythromycin and gentamycin having the widest diameter zone of inhibition (22 mm) CONCLUSION: MRSA is highly prevalent in this tertiary hospital. Despite its resistance to some antibiotics, it is still sensitive to commonly prescribes antibiotics used in this region of the country. KEYWORDS: Staphylococcus, Methicillin, Resistant, Susceptibility, Nosocomial.