Antibiogram of Methicillin Resistant Staphyloccocus aureus solated from Nasal Carriage of Some University Students of Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Staphylococcus aureus is ubiquitous, and highly adaptive pathogen that colonizes the skin and mucous membrane of the anterior nares, MRSA most often causes skin infections. In some cases, it causes pneumonia (lung infection) and other infections. If left untreated, MRSA infections can become severe and cause sepsis—the body's extreme response to an infection.Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate the antibiogram of Methicillin ResistantStaphylococcus aureus from nasal carriage of Students in Rivers State University, Port Harcourt. Fifty (50) Nasal swab samples were collected using standard method, from the anterior nares of 25 male and 25 female students of Rivers State University using sterile cotton swabs and examined for Staphylococcus aureus using standard bacteriological methods. Staphylococcus aureus isolated were screened for methicillin resistance and antibiotic sensitivity pattern of Methicillin resistance Staphylococcus using 8 different antibiotics such as Augmentin (30 µg), Ceftriaxone (30 µg), Gentamicin (10 µg), Cefuroxime (5 µg, Ofloxacin (5 µg), Erythromycin (5 µg), Cloxacillin (30 µg), Ceptazidime (30 µg were carried out using Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion technique, Data obtained were analysed using SPSS version 20. The results of the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus, among students showed that out the 50 samples 48 (96%) were positive of S. aureus, with male having the 25 (52%) while female had 23 (48%). The responses of Staphylococcus aureus isolated showed that methicillin susceptible S. aureus (75.44%) were significantly (p<0.05 higher than ethicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) which were14.03% and methicillin intermediate S. aureus (MISA) which were 10.53% The results of me a gene screening revealed that all the (8) methicillin resistant S. aureus isolated posses mec A gene. Five Out of the eight (8) oral antibiotics tested against the methicillin resistant S. aureus showed some degree of susceptibility in the range of Ceftriaxone (37.5%), Erythromycin (50%), Cefuroxime (50%) < Ofloxacin (62.5%). The high prevalence of S. aureus (96%) isolated from nose of students between the age of 17 to 30 in this study indicated serious public health risk among students and the percentage of resistance of Methicillin Resistance S aureus to commonly uses antibiotics calls for continuous surveillance, therefore screening of target population, and decolonization of carriers should be conducted to decrease the spread and burden of drug resistant S. aureus and MRSA in schools and the community at large.