Abstract
The prevalence of co-resistance to four disinfectants and seven antibiotics was investigated among 57 bacterial strains isolated from the effluents of three hospital laboratories in Ogbomoso, Southwestern Nigeria. The organisms belonging to seven genera of public health importance such as Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, Serratia, Staphylococcus, Klebsiella, Proteus and Bacillus showed varying degrees of resistance to the test antimicrobial agents ranging from 0% to 77.8%. From among 25 organisms isolated from hospital A were recognized 16 phenotypic patterns of co-resistance to the test disinfectants and antibiotics; while from hospitals B and C were recognized 13 and 9 patterns, respectively, from among 18 and 14 isolates. The observed co-resistance to antimicrobial agents among the organisms reported in the present study is an indication of the risks posed by the untreated effluents to public health. It also adds to the increasing evidence about the role of hospital wastewaters as environmental reservoir of multi-drug-resistant bacteria.
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Acknowledgements
The Authors are grateful to Prof. Adebayo Lamikanra and Dr. Adekunle Bakare who read through the manuscript and made very useful suggestions.
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Adelowo, O.O., Fagade, O.E. & Oke, A.J. Prevalence of co-resistance to disinfectants and clinically relevant antibiotics in bacterial isolates from three hospital laboratory wastewaters in Southwestern Nigeria. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 24, 1993–1997 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-008-9697-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-008-9697-3