ABSTRACT
Staphylococcus aureus are considered as major pathogens that infect and/or colonize both humans and animals. Providing a reservoir of the pathogen, nasal carriage has been shown to be a predisposing factor for infections. This study aimed at determining the prevalence and the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Staphylococcus aureus associated with cattle in Benin City, Edo State.
A total of fifty (50) (nasal and rectal) samples were collected from five different cattle farms in Benin City. The cattle farm locations include Uselu cattle market, two farms Tempoga cattle market and two farms in Sapele road cattle market. The samples were collected using sterile swab sticks. The samples were microbiologically assessed using cultural, biochemical and antibiotic susceptibility was evaluated using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method.
The observed occurrence was Uselu cattle farm [4/10 (40%)], Tempoga cattle farm A [8/10 (80%)], Tempoga cattle farm B [7/10 (70%)], Sapele road cattle farm A [6/10 (60%)] and Sapele road cattle farm B [8/10 (80%)]. The highest prevalence of 80% occurred Tempoga cattle farm A and Sapele road cattle farm B while the least was observed Uselu cattle farm (40%). In total, the prevalence of S. aureus is 33/50 (66.0%). The occurrence of S. aureus based on sample type was nasal swab [22/25 (88%)] and rectal swab [11/25 (44%)]. The antibiotic resistant profile of S. aureus were penicillin G [10/10 (100%)], gentamicin [0/10 (0%)], ceftriaxone [8/10 (80%)], erythromycin [4/10 (40%)], tetracycline [5/10 (50%)], imipenem [5/10 (50%)] and ciprofloxacin [0/10 (0%)]. No resistance was demonstrated towards gentamicin and ciprofloxacin. The multiple antibiotics resistance (MAR) index of the S. aureus in this study ranged from 0.7 - 0.1. Nine isolates were resistant to at least two antibiotics and demonstrated an MAR index ≥ 0.3.
