Prevalence of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Pneumonia Patients that Attend Madonna Catholic Hospital Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria
Immaculata U. Nwankwo *
Department of Microbiology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria.
Kelechi C. Edward
Department of Microbiology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria.
Chinedu N. Nwoba
Diagnostic Laboratory Unit, University Health Services, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria.
Moses O. Ike
Department of Microbiology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aim: To determine the prevalence of Streptococcus pnenumoniae in pnenumonia patients attending Madonna Catholic Hospital, Umuahia; Abia State.
Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study on the prevalence of Streptococcus pnenumoniae among patients in Madonna Catholic Hospital, Umuahia. It lasted for a period of three months (September 2019 to January 2020). Standard microbiological techniques were used to evaluate 60 sputum samples collected from pneumonia patients and the modified Kirby-Buar disk diffusion technique was used to test the sensitive pattern of the isolates to some antibiotics.
Results: A total of thirty-three (33) Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates were recovered from sixty (60) sputum samples from pneumonia patients. 17(51%) were gotten from male and 16 (49%) of isolates were gotten from female. The highest frequency of occurrence among the age groups was observed with adults (19-59 years) (34.4%) followed by adolescence (13-18 years) (33.3%), while the least frequency was from those of senior adults (>60) (9.1%). However, the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from the sputum samples shows varying degrees of sensitivity and resistance to the antibiotics. From the study, Streptomycin and Cotrimoxazole showed a high percentage of sensitivity against Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates at 78.8% and 72.7% respectively. The highest percentage of resistance was observed with Gentamicin and Tetracycline at 42.4% each.
Conclusion: This study highlights that there was no distinct variation in occurrence of Streptococcus pneumoniae in relation to gender and age. As most patients were hospitalized in separated wards, this suggests a role for local dissemination of this bacterium in the respective wards rather than age or gender specific predilection. This study also suggests that streptomycin and Cotrimoxazole could be a drug of choice in the treatment of pneumonia.
Keywords: Streptococcus pneumonia, prevalence, pneumonia, patients, hospital