PREVALENCE OF METHICILLIN-RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS FROM HEALTHY COMMUNITY INDIVIDUALS VOLUNTEERS IN JOS SOUTH, NIGERIA

This study investigated the prevalence of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from the nasal swabs of healthy community individual volunteers in Jos South, Nigeria and its susceptibility pattern to seven other antibiotics. Standard procedures were employed for isolation, screening, and susceptibility testing. The result of this study reveal that 98 (49 %) S. aureus were isolated from 200 nasal swab samples collected. The prevalence rate for male and female group was 48 % and 50 % respectively. Sixty two isolates (63.3 %) were found to be methicillin resistant. The MRSA isolated were highly resistant to Ampicillin (88.7 %), Amoxicillin (85.5 %), Tetracycline (80.6 %), Cotrimoxazole (80.6 %) but had low resistance to Erythromycin (35.5%). The MRSA isolated showed high susceptibility to Ofloxacin (98.4 %) and Gentamicin (83.9 %). While 55 (88.7 %) of the MRSA isolated showed multidrug resistance and only 3 (4.8 %) were susceptible to all other tested antibiotics.