ANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY AND PLASMID SCREENING OF ESCHERICHIA COLI AND STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS AMONG PATIENTS WITH URINARY TRACT INFECTION

An infection attacking any part of the urinary system is termed Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) which has continued to be a serious healthcare challenge globally. This research work, therefore, was aimed at determining the prevalence of antibiotic susceptibility and plasmid profile of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli among patients with urinary tract infections. A total of 50 urine specimens were collected and analyzed by culture, Gram staining and biochemical tests. Antibacterial susceptibility test and plasmid profile analysis were carried out on the isolates. E. coli had a high prevalence of 68.57% compared to S. aureus, which had a prevalence of 31.43%. This study showed the age and sex distribution of students with bacterial isolates from urine specimens with P ≥ 0.05, which implies that there was no significant difference between the age and sex distribution of students with pathogenic bacteria from urine. For the percentage distribution of bacterial isolates by sex, the prevalence of the bacterial isolates was seen to be higher in females with 62.50% for Escherichia coli and 54.55 for Staphylococcus aureus while males had 37.50% for Escherichia coli and 45.45% for Staphylococcus aureus. E. coli Antibiotic susceptibility profile P ≥ 0.05 which implies that there is no significant difference in the antibiotic susceptibility profile of Gram-negative bacteria. This high rate of resistance could be associated with self-prescription, incomplete dosage, or indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Bacteria strains resistance to multiple antibiotics exists among patients suffering from UTIs. However, E. coli was highly susceptible to streptomycin (95.83%) and gentamycin (100%) while S. aureus Antibiotic susceptibility profile P ≤ 0.05, which implies that there is significant difference in the antibiotic susceptibility profile of Staphylococcus aureus. It was susceptible to all the antibiotics used with Ciprofloxacin (100%) and Aminopenicillin (90.91%) having the highest susceptibility rate. Plasmid profiling using Gel electrophoresis, shows no plasmid in amplification bands of E. coli, while the presence of plasmid in amplification band of Staphylococcus aureus at 9466bp was seen.