ABSTRACT

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a species of Staphylococci that has developed resistance to antibiotics normally used to treat infections caused by Staphyloccoci species. The incidence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphyloccocus aureus was assessed among the School pupils of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike Demonstration Primary School and Model Primary School Umudike, Oboro-Ikwuano, both in Abia state. The nasal swabs obtained from the pupils (59 males and 41 females) were assessed and cultured on Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA) for isolation of Staphylococcus aureus. The One hundred cultured specimens yielded bacterial growth of which 34 of the isolates were identified as Staphylococcus aureus by employment of various microbiological and biochemical tests. The antibiotic susceptibility test were conducted on the isolate using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique with Celtech Multi-disc Susceptibility kit containing 12 antibiotic disc panels. Ten of the isolates (29.4%) were resistant to Cefoxitin which is a Methicillin antibiotic while the total isolates were mostly sensitive to Gentamycin and Levofloxacin with the value 25(73.5%) and 25(73.5%) respectively. The highest rates of resistance were observed for Imipenem 34(100%), Cefixime 34(100%) and Cefotaxime 30(88.2%). The incidence of Methicillin-resistance among the isolates was 11.8% of the male pupils (4 of 34) and 17.6% of the female pupils (6 of 34) and this shows a low level of Methicillin-resistance to Staphylococcus aureus as compared to the work of some researchers that isolated 56.1% MRSA from school pupils.