ABSTRACT

 The skin provides a remarkable good barrier against bacteria infections. Although many bacteria comes in contact with or reside on the skin, they are normally unable to establish an infection. This study evaluates the bacterial colonization of human skin. The study was conducted within MOUAU. A total number of thirty (30) swab samples were collected at random from the Skin of thirty (30) different students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike by swabbing the surface of their skin using a sterile swab sticks moistened with normal saline. All samples collected were transported to Microbiology laboratory Mouau immediately and cultured using the streak plate method on MacConkey agar, Blood agar, and incubated for 24 hours at 37°C for bacterial growth. The resulting colonies from the MacConkey agar and blood agar plates were purified by sub-culturing on freshly prepared nutrient agar plates. The plates were incubated at 35°C for 24hours. The antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates was tested against the following antibiotics. Ofloxacin (lomcg), Peflacine (lOmcg), Cefiriaxone (lomcg), Amoxycillin/Clavulanic (30mcg), Gentamicin (30nicg), Streptomycin (30mcg), Cephalexin (lomcg), Cotrimoxazole (3Omcg) and Ampicilin (30rncg), using Kirby Bauer antibiotics disk method. Five (5) different organisms were isolated which include; Staphylococcus aureus 19(36.5%), Bacillus sp 11(21.2%), Pseudornonas aeruginosa 4(7.7%), Streptococcus sp 13(25.0%), and Escherichia coli 5(9.6%). The antibiotic sensitivity test reviewed that Ofloxacin 49(94.2%) is the drug of choice for the treatment of skin infection following to the fact that it show high rate of sensitivity to the bacterial isolates tested, whereas Ampicillin 16(30.8%) has the least percentage susceptibility to the isolates. The spread of the microorganisms and the infection from human hands can be minimized by the use of hand sanitizers by the students, increased sanitary measures, strict adherence to regular hand washing with soap and antiseptics and regular bathing.