PREVALENCE AND ANTIBIOGRAM PROFILE OF PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA ON HOSPITAL EQUIPMENT AND SITES IN SELECTED HOSPITALS IN CALABAR MUNICIPALITY
S. P. Antai*, D. R. Tiku and G. E. Gladys
ABSTRACT
This study was aimed at investigating the prevalence and antibiogram profile of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on hospital equipments and sites in selected hospitals in Calabar Municipality. Fifty (50) swab specimens were aseptically collected from intensive care units, hospital sites and equipments used in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), General Hospital, Calabar, and Arubah Specialist and Diagnostic Hospital Calabar. The swabs were cultured and microorganisms were identified using standard microbiological procedures. The results obtained from the study revealed a high prevalence rate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the neonatal intensive care unit (47.61%), intensive pediatric care unit (53.84%) and intensive cardiac care unit (55.55%) of General Hospital Calabar, compared to that obtained from University of Calabar Teaching Hospital and Arubah Specialist and Diagnostic Hospital Calabar. Similarly, a high prevalence rate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was also recorded in the different hospital sites and equipments used in the investigated hospitals. Moreover, a higher incidence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was observed in sinks (45.5%), floor (50%), nurse table (55.55%), nurse trolley (61.11%) patient bedding (69.23%), oxygen tubing (57.14%), operating table (54.17%), staff hand swab (50%) in General Hospital Calabar, compared to that obtained from collection points of the other hospitals investigated. Antibiogram studies revealed that the Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from the investigated hospital were more resistant to amoxicillin (100%), cotrimoxazole (100%), nitrofurantoin (100%), nalidixic acid (100%), ofloxacin (100%), and augmentin (100%), but least resistnce to piperacillin/trazobactum (28.5%). However, the study has revealed that the prevalence of multiple drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa often varies dramatically between intensive care units of hospitals in the same community, in different hospital sites and equipments used in hospitals, as well as in different patient populations in hospitals. This observation was worrisome as the organism has been implicated with numerous diseases such as pneumoniae, bacteremia, meningitides, otitis media, keratitis, urinary tract infections, skin infections, among others. It is therefore important to institute a system for the surveillance, collection and collation of both clinical and microbiological data on multiple drug resistance Pseudomonas strains in hospital environments as this will help curb some of the threats posed by this pathogen on the quality of healthcare systems.
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