Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most widely spread human pathogen. Considering the havoc it causes on life and subsequently on the economy, it became necessary to determine its incidence and antibiogram in our environment for adequate control and treatment. Records of microbial cultures and antibiotic sensitivity test results of suspected cases of urinary tract infection (UTI) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) Benin City from January 1^st to 31^st December, 2005 were retrieved and statistically analyzed. Two thousand, one hundred and twelve (2,112) early morning mid-stream, urine samples were cultured and seven different microbial agents were isolated and identified. Staphylococuus aureus was found to be the most common organism isolated presenting 22.8%, closely followed by Klebsiella spp. (10.1%), Escherichia coli(8.2%), Proteus mirabilis (4.8%), Enteronacter spp. (4.4%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2.0%) and Candida albican (1.0%). No growth was recorded in 46.6% of cultures. The occurrence of S. aureus was found to be significantly higher (65.8%) in females compared to males (34.2%) (P>0.05). 35% of cases were observed between the ages of 21 to 30 years and the majority were female (46.7%). The S. aureus strains were sensitive to augmentin (83%), oxfloxacin (75.9%), nitrofurantion (63.5%) and gentamycine (50.2%). S. aureus was found to be highly resistant to tetracycline (80.9%), naladixic acid (79.3%) and contrimoxazole (87.3%). It was observed that S. aureus, among other organisms isolated, is the leading cause of UTI in our environment. Augmentin and oxfloxacin could be the drug of choice in the treatment of S. aureus.

Key words: Microbial agents, Staphylococcus aureus, significance level, resistance, urinary tract infection.