T Sampson*, O Ejims-Enwukwe and LP Peekate
Department of Microbiology, Rivers State University, Nigeria
*Corresponding Author: T Sampson, Department of Microbiology, Rivers State University, Nigeria.
Received: June 20, 2022; Published: August 03, 2022
Over the past few years, waste from hospital environment has been a major concern to the public, as the disposal and management of these wastes portend great danger to the surrounding environment. The study investigated the susceptibility pattern and molecular characterization of bacterial isolates from waste disposal sites within University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) and Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH), in Rivers State. About 10g of top soil (0-15 cm) was randomly collected using a sterile trowel from points associated with waste disposal within the hospital premises. The Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method was used to determine the susceptibility pattern of the bacterial isolates to conventional antibiotics. The bacterial organisms were isolated using standard bacteriological media, and further characterized using a Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based molecular technique. The presence of antibiotics resistance (mecA) gene was probed using specific primers. Data obtained showed that ceftazidime was the least effective antibiotics, as over 80% of both Gram positive and Gram negative isolates were resistant to the antibiotics. The study revealed that most of the isolates from both hospitals had Multiple Antibiotic Resistance (MAR) index greater than 0.2. While UPTH had MAR index that ranged from 0.3 - 0.9, that of RSUTH ranged from 0.3-0.8. Evolutionary relationship between the isolates confirmed that the 16s rRNA sequence were specific to 80% of actual organism; Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Providencia stuartii, from the data base. The study detected the presence of mecA gene in 60% of the isolates probed. The research showed that all the isolates (100%) obtained were multi drug resistant (MDR) organism, lurking around waste disposal and management sites as the isolates showed very high resistance pattern between the hospitals studied. It is therefore recommended that since soil acts as a major reservoir to most of these pathogen, the disposal and management sites be properly sited in locations distant from main hospital facility and proper education given to waste handlers on the possible outcome if not adequately taken care of.
Keywords: Anibiogram; Bacteria; Molecular Characterization; Tertiary Hospitals; Waste Disposal
Citation: T Sampson., et al. “Antibiogram and Molecular Characterization of Bacterial from Waste Disposal and Management Sites within Tertiary Hospitals in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria". Acta Scientific Microbiology 5.9 (2022): 16-23.
Copyright: © 2022 T Sampson., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.