Relevance and Antimicrobial Resistance of Staphylococal Uropathogens in HIV-Positive Adolescents at Nigerian Health Facility

The major cause of significant morbidity and fatality amongst immunocompromised individuals with HIV is microbial colonization and subsequent infection. The changing epidemiology of the staphylococci could be considered a chief factor worsening the course of the infection in patients on antiretrovirals in countries like Nigeria thus dictating this present study. Categorical data was obtained when urine samples of fifty-three (53) HIV-infected adolescent patients on antiretrovirals at a Military Base hospital in Makurdi, Benue State, were variously cultured on Nutrient, Cysteine Lactose Electrolyte-Deficient (CLED) and Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) agar and incubated for a maximum time of 24 hours to isolate and identify species of staphylococci. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted using the Mueller-Hinton (Oxoid) agar disc diffusion method at the recommended Institute of Clinical and Laboratory Standard of M100. The total number of females infected with Staphylococcus species (54.7%) was higher than the total number of infected males (45.3%) while the occurrence of S. aureus (56.6%) was higher than S. epidermidis (43.4%). The anti-microbial sensitivity tests showed that S. aureus was most susceptible (24mm) to ciprofloxacin and least susceptible (16mm) to pefloxacin while S. epidermidis was susceptible (16mm) to erythromycin alone. It is highly recommended that control interventions be instituted in the study population as this present study reveals that S. aureus colonization is associated with HIV infection in adolescents who were on antiretrovirals and that such clinical infections will likely remain both common and serious in these individuals especially with the reported changes in the spectrum of antimicrobial resistance.