Isolation, Identification And Prevalence Of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Isolates From Clinical And Environmental Sources In Onitsha Metropolis, Anambra State

Abstract

This study was aimed to isolate and identify Pseudomonas aeruginosa and to determine the prevalence rate of isolated P. aeruginosa in Hospitals in Onitsha. Isolates of P. aeruginosa were recovered from both clinical and environmental sources using Cetrimide agar, Blood agar, Mueller-Hinton agar and MacConkey agar. All the inoculated plates were incubated at 37°C for 24-48 hours and growth was evaluated on these media. Isolates were identified on the basis of standard bacteriological methods like morphology, colonial characteristics, smell in culture, haemolysis, as well as pigment production on these media. All suspected isolates were further characterized and identified by many biochemical reactions. Results revealed that only 22 (18.3%) isolates were P. aeruginosa, while other 98 (81.7%) represented other bacterial genera. The 22 isolates included 19 (86.4%) environmental isolates and 3 (13.6%) clinical isolates. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was most commonly isolated from sink (13.6%), then mops and cleaning buckets (9.1%) and least from theatre bed, nasal swab, floor, disinfectant, ear and wound swab (4.5%). The pigment varied from bluish-green to yellowish-green with a grape-like odor. All isolates were Gram negative, produced β-hemolysis on blood agar and were motile. The biochemical tests showed all the isolates to be strongly positive for catalase, oxidase, citrate, and casein hydrolysis. The prevalence rate of P. aeruginosa is relatively high and its isolation from sources like sinks and theatre bed could be suggestive of the role of this pathogen in nosocomial infections.

Prevalence of multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from selected residential sewages in Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State, Nigeria

“…Interviews with the locals in our study area revealed that ciprofloxacin was a commonly used antibiotic within that area (data not shown). Strikingly, we observed a 75% resistance to ciprofloxacin, which was comparably higher than the 22.9% and 45.5% reported by earlier studies in Pakistan 26 and South-Eastern Nigeria 21 respectively. Single therapy from health care practitioners, or selective pressure arising from frequent use, may be responsible for the emergence of resistance to this broad-spectrum antibiotic 27 Previously, we had reported a 50% resistance to nitrofurantoin by Pseudomonas spp., isolated from smoked fish in Dutsinma, Katsina State, Nigeria.…”

“…The high resistance to cefuroxime (100%) and ceftazidime (95%) observed from Kadangaru and Miami respectively ( Table 3 ), corroborates a 100% resistance to the same antibiotics reported in an earlier study carried out in Onitsha, Nigeria. 21 The resistance to cephalosporins observed in this study portends serious public health concerns, especially with the rising emergence of resistance to this group of antibiotics. 24 The unrestricted usage of these antibiotics in our study area is probable for the high resistance to cephalosporin we observed.…”

“…More so, hospital environments are also heavily contaminated with P. aeruginosa . Occurrence rates as high as 86.4% and 33% have been reported from hospital environments in Nigeria 21 and Uganda 22 respectively. However, the variation in occurrence rates reported by these authors may be attributable to differences in sample size, study design, study locations, among other factors.…”

“…29 We report a remarkably high (100%) prevalence of multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa, which corroborates the findings of other researchers in Nigeria. 21,[30][31][32] This phenomenon may be primarily associated with the inherent antimicrobial resistance of Pseudomonas spp. to frequently administered antibiotics, as highlighted in previous literature.…”

Human Body Burden of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Antibiotics Susceptibility Pattern and Presence of Extended Spectrum β-lactamase and Carbapenemase encoding Genes in Lagos State, Nigeria

“…Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative facultatively anaerobic straight or slightly curved rod 1 to 3μm long and 0.5 to 1.0μm wide that produces one or more water soluble pigments including pyoverdine a yellow-green fluorescent pigment, pyorubin a redbrown pigment, pyocyanin a blue-green pigment, and pyomelanin a dark pigment (Ezeador et al, 2020). It is an opportunistic pathogen and member of the ESKAPE group of pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species) notorious for being highly virulent and resistant to antibiotics.…”