High incidence of multidrug-resistant strains of methicill inresistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from clinical samples in Benin-City, Nigeria

Infections of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are becoming an increasingly concerning clinical problem. The aim of this study was to assess the development of multidrug resistant strains of MRSA from clinical samples andpossibilities for reducing resistance. This study included a total of seventy-five (75) isolates comprising fifteen (15) each collected from ear, urine, cervix, blood and wounds. An agar disc diffusion test was used to measure the effects of antimicrobial agents against the bacteria isolates following standardized guidelines. Out of a total of 75 clinical isolates of S. aureuscollected, 43 (57.3%) were resistant to methicillin with isolates obtained from ear infections showing the highest resistance pattern of 14.7% while the least was from urine sample with incidence of 5.3%. From the 43 isolates that showed resistance to methicillin, 36 (83.7%) were multidrug resistant to various classes of antibiotics tested.MRSA showed an increasing trend of antimicrobial resistance and therefore calls for periodic surveillance of nosocomial infections due to S. aureus and other important bacterial pathogens.Key Words: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcusaureus, MRSA, multidrug resistance, MD