Antimicrobial Resistance Problems in a University Hospital: MATERIALS AND METHODS
The sensitivity of a total of 1,718 bacterial isolates from clinical specimens to 20 antimicrobial drugs was studied in 2002 at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu. The specimens were classified into two groups: urinary and nonurinary specimens. The nonurinary group included wound swabs, blood, body fluids, specimens from respiratory tract, ear, nose and throat, genital and conjuctival regions. The urinary group was divided into those from inpatients and outpatients.
The organisms selected for the study (numbers tested), which included all the strains isolated throughout the year, were as follows: coliforms (897), Staphylococcus aureus (403), streptococcus sp (143), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (137), Proteus sp (88) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (50). The coliform group was not differentiated. The organisms were identified by routine laboratory methods. Due to nonavailability of methicillin and vancomycin discs, the number of methicillin-resist-ant staphylococci (MRSA) and vancomycin-resist-ant coagulase-negative staphylococci could not be documented. The following antimicrobial agents were included for sensitivity testing: pefloxacine 5 mg, nalidixic acid 500 mg, nitrofurantoin 100 mg, ampicillin 500 mg, cotrimoxazole 960 mg, colistin 10 mg, streptomycin 10 mg, tetracycline 200 mg, cefuroxime 125 mg, gentamycin 10 mg, chloramphenicol 250 mg, erythromycin 500 mg, penicillin 250 mg, cephalexin 250 mg, norfloxacin 400 mg, ofloxacin 100 mg, ceftazidime 30 mg and ciprofloxacin 250 mg.
Due to the nonavailability of some antimicrobial discs at certain periods, not all antimicrobials were tested against the organisms in equal number. Antibiotic drug sensitivity testing was performed on sensitivity test agar (Biotec, United Kingdom) using the disc diffusion method in accordance with the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards.
S. aureus (ATCC 29213) and E. coli (A 35218) were used for quality control of all tests.
