Antibacterial Susceptibility Profiles of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Different Patients at Specialist Hospital Sokoto, Nigeria

Background: Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of hospital- and community-acquired infections, and increasing resistance to commonly used antibacterial agents complicates treatment. This study assessed the antibacterial susceptibility profiles of S. aureus isolates from different samples at Specialist Hospital Sokoto (SHS), Nigeria. Methods: We collected and processed 86 samples between April and September 2021 using standard microbiological techniques. S. aureus was identified phenotypically, and antibacterial susceptibility testing was performed using Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method following Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) M100-S24 (2014 edition) guidelines. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Results : S. aureus was isolated from 19 of 86 samples, giving an overall distribution of 22.1% (95% confidence interval:13.3% - 30.9%). Wound swabs yielded the highest isolates (6 of 86; 6.98%), then urine samples (4 of 86; 4.70%), with the highest occurrence among children aged 0–10 years (8 of 86; 9.3%). The isolates showed highest susceptibility to ceftriaxone and streptomycin (12 of 19; 63.2% each) and highest resistance to norfloxacin (17 of 19; 89.5%), cefuroxime (14 of 19; 73.7%), and amoxicillin (13 of 19; 68.4%). One isolate (1 of 19; 5.3%) showed intermediate susceptibility to each of amoxicillin, ceftriaxone and chloramphenicol. Conclusion: A considerable burden of antibacterial resistance among S. aureus isolates was seen in this setting, highlighting the need for continuous local surveillance for antimicrobial stewardship. The low sample size and absence of molecular resistance characterization are among other key limitations of this study.