Abstract

Background: The carriage of Coagulase Negative Staphylococci in the anterior nares of subjects in the study environment has not been investigated before and this study is thus a reference study against which future studies can be compared. The isolates obtained were also tested against frequently used antibiotics as well as linezolid, an antibiotic which is of considerable importance in the treatment of Multidrug resistant staphylococci. Methods: A total of 400 nasal swabs were collected from anterior nares of apparently healthy subjects aseptically using a sterile swab sticks. The antibiotic susceptibilities of isolates of S. aureus obtained against eight different antibiotics including Linezolid were determined using the disc-plate method. Results: The results showed that 136(34.03%) of the subjects tested are nasal carriers of CoNS: S. epidermidis 50(36.76%) which is the most prevalent. This is followed by S. haemolyticus 41(30.15%), S. saprophyticus 13(9.56%), S. hominis 10(7.35%), S. cohnii 8(5.88%), while S. lugdunensis and S. xylosus were 7(5.15%) each. The incidences of resistance observed with each of the antibiotics tested were as follow: Erythromycin 112(82.4%), Tetracycline 108(79.4%), Cotrimoxazole 94(69.1%), Cefoxitin 80(58.8%), Linezolid 75(55.1%), Ciprofloxacin 66(48.5%), Augmentin 43(31.6%) and Gentamycin 31(22.8%). Conclusion: Treatment of CoNS infections within the study environment should be based on the results of in vitro susceptibility testing of the isolates. Gentamicin and Augmentin promises to be the best antibiotic for the treatment of disorders associated with Staphylococci in the study area. This is of special importance in an environment within which a very substantial proportion of the isolates are resistant to methicillin and linezolid.