ABSTRACT

Staphylococcus aureus has been identified as a risk factor for community acquired and nosocomial infections. It is a common inhabitant of the skin and mucus membrane. Children with nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus play an important role in community spread of Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Staphylococcus aureus is a facultative anaerobic Gram positive bacterium commonly isolated from different parts of human body, particularly the anterior nares, skin and the throat but the nares are the most consistent site of isolation. In this study, 50 nasal swab specimens were collected from asymtomatic school children of Umudike Community Primary School, Umudike, Abia State, Umuariaga Primary School, Umuahia, Abia State, Grace Vine Primary School, Umudike, Abia State, Amaoba Migrant Farmers School, Amaoba, Abia State in Ikwuano Local Government were examined for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus using Mannitol salt agar and it was further identified with Gram staining reaction and Biochemical tests such as catalase and coagulase test. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed using Kirby-Bauer’s disc diffusion method according to performance standards of Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute guidelines. A total of 16 children were found to have Staphylococcus aureus, out of the 50 cases (20 males and 30 females). The results showed that the females had higher percentage of Staphylococcus aureus infection. The carriage rate reduced with increase in age of the children.The antibiotics susceptibility pattern of the isolates revealed that Erythromycin, Ofloxacin, Cefraxone-Sulbactam, Azithromycin and Gentamicin were the most sensitive antibiotics. The study concluded that Nasal colonization by Staphylococcus aureus can provide an indication of a higher risk for subsequent infections, especially when they have developed resistance to wide spectrum of antibiotics. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page i

Certification Page ii

Dedication iii

Acknowledgements iv

Table of Contents v

List of Tables vii

Abstract viii

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 2

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 3

2.1 ISOLATION OF Staphylococcus aureus 3

2.2 PREVALENCE OF Staphylococcus aureus 6

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS 8

3.1 SPECIMEN COLLECTION AND CULTURING 8

3.2 MEDIA PREPARATION 8

3.3    ISOLATION AND IDENTICATION OF Staphylococcus aureus 8

3.3.1 CULTURE 8

3.4 SMEAR PREPARATION AND GRAM STAINING 9

3.5 BIOCHEMICAL TESTS 9

 3.5.1 CATALASE TEST 9

3.5.2 COAGULASE TEST 10

3.6 ANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY TESTING 10

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 RESULTS 11

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 16

5.1 DISCUSSION 16

5.2 CONCLUSION 17

5.3 RECOMMENDATION 17

REFERENCES

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Age and Sex distribution of participants 12

Table 4.2 Frequency (%) of Staphylococcus aureus in the nasal specimen 13

Table 4.3    Zone diameters of Antimicrobial Agents when testing 14

Staphylococcus aureus according to CLS1 guidelines, 2011

(zone diameters are in mm).

Table 4.4: Antimicrobial susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated 15

from pupil (Expressed in %)