Antibiotics Resistant Patterns of Bacteria from Patients with Wounds in a Tertiary Hospital, Southeast Nigeria.
Main Article Content
Abstract
Antibiotics resistant organisms involved in wound infection play an important role in delaying wound healing. This study aimed to determine antibiotics resistant patterns of bacteria from patients with wound infections in Alex Ekwueme University Teaching Hospital, Abakiliki. One hundred and two wound swabs collected from 95 patients between December, 2024 and February, 2025 were cultured on MacConkey agar, Blood agar, Nutrient agar and Mannitol salt Agar and isolates identified. Demographic data were obtained using structured questionnaires. Susceptibility of isolates to antibiotics was determined by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method. Seventy six (74.51%) of the wound swabs yielded positive growth with 93 bacteria isolates: 30 (32.3%) Klebsiella spp., 10 (10.7%) Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 10 (10.7%) Proteus mirabilis, 5 (5.4%) Escherichia coli, 36 (38.7%) Staphylococcus aureus and 2 (2.2%) Streptococcus spp (p < 0.05). Fifty nine (77.63%) specimens recorded single microbial infections while seventeen (22.37%) had poly-microbial infections constituted with two species (p < 0.05). Infection was more prevalent among 31-40 years age group (74.2%), males (68.4%), widows (100%) and the retired (70%). No significant association was recorded with any of the variables. High resistance by all the gram-negative organisms was observed with Erythromycin (60 – 93.3%), Cefixime (60 – 90%), Gentamycin (50 – 93.3%) and Imipenem (50 – 60%); and by all the gram-positive organisms with Gentamycin (50 – 63.9%), Cefixime (50 – 83.3%), Cefotaxime (50 – 77.8%) and Levofloxacin (50%). This study shows the need for urgent targeted antimicrobial resistant intervention in Southeast, Nigeria.
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Ekwealor, C. C., Onyekachi, C. R., Anaukwu, C. G., Umunna, V. C., Anakwenze, V. N., & Anyaoha, V. I. (2026). Antibiotics Resistant Patterns of Bacteria from Patients with Wounds in a Tertiary Hospital, Southeast Nigeria. The Bioscientist Journal, 14(1), 95-109. https://doi.org/10.54117/the_bioscientist.v14i1.207
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Arvind, P., Singh, T. B., Shilpa, K., Pranjal, K. P. and Vikash S. P. (2024). Association of sociodemographic with epidemiological profile of chronic wound patients attending a tertiary care hospital. Indian Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 55 (3): 196-204.
Asres, G., Legese, M. and Woldearegay, G. (2017). Prevalence of multidrug resistant bacteria in postoperative infections at Tikur Anbess specialized hospital, Addis, Ababa, Ethiopia. Archives of Medicine, 9(4):12
Bessa, L., Fazii, P., Giulio, M. and Cellini, L. (2013). Bacterial isolates from infected wounds and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern: some remarks about wound infection. International Wound Journal, 12(1):47-52
Breijyeh, Z., Jubeh, B. and Karaman, R. (2020). Resistance of Gram-negative bacteria to current antibacterial agents and approaches to resolve it. Molecules, 16;25(6):1340.
Cheesbrough M. (2016). District laboratory practice in tropical countries. Cambridge University Press, UK.
Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) (2015). Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing. Twenty fifth informational supplement, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, Wayne, PA.
Cochran, W. G. (1977). Sampling techniques. 3rd edn. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Colson, A. R., Morton, A., Årdal, C., Chalkidou, K., Davies, S. C., Garrison L. P., Jit M., Laxminarayan, R., Megiddo, I., Morel, C. and Nonvignon, J. (2021). Antimicrobial resistance: is health technology assessment part of the solution or part of the problem? Value Health, 24(12):1828–1834.
Cox, G. and Wright, G. D. (2013). Intrinsic antibiotic resistance: mechanisms, origins, challenges and solutions. International Journal of Medical Microbiology, 303:287–292.
Diop, M., Bassoum, O., Ndong, A., Wone, F., Tamouh, A. G., Ndoye, T. Y., Daffe, R. O. et al. (2025). Prevalence of multidrug resistant bacteria in healthcare and community settings in West Africa: Systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Infectious Disease, 25:292
Hassan, M. A., El-Aziz, S. A., Elbadry, H. M, El-Aassar, S. A. and Tamer, T. M. (2022). Prevalence, antimicrobial resistance profile, and characterization of multi-drug-resistant bacteria from various infected wounds in North Egypt. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, 29(4):2978–2988
Hussein, K. S., Abdulmughni, G. T., Othaman, A. M., Al-Shami, H. Z., Al-Haidary, N. M., Assayaghi, R. M and Jahzar, K. H. (2025). Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of bacteria isolated from wound infections in Al-Bayda Governorate Yamen. BMC Infectious Diseases, 25:868
Ilyas, F., James, A., Khan, S., Haider, S., Ullah, S., Darwish, G., Taqvi S. A. H. R., Ali, R., Younas, Q. and Rheman, A. (2024). Multidrug-resistant pathogens in wound infections: A Systematic Review. Cureus 16(4):e58760
Isomah, C., Ogbonna, S., Robinson, V. and Ogbuleka, N. (2023). Antibiogram of Wound Isolates of Patients Attending University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. South Asian Journal of Research in Microbiology,17(3): 36-43.
James, G. J., Douglas, S. I., Aleruchi, O. and Odu, N. N. (2023). Antibiogram and molecular characterization of bacteria isolated from wound specimens from a teaching hospital in Nigeria. International Journal of Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 2(2): 133-141
Kadam, S. and Shahane, K. (2019). Recent advances in non-conventional antimicrobial approaches for chronic wounds biofilms: have we found the clinic in the armor? Biomedicine, 7(2), 35.
Lilian, N. C., Nneka, R. A., Ifeoma B. E., Chidozie V.U., Eucharia A. D and Ifeoma S. E. (2024). Microbial population of wound isolates and socio demographic characteristics in patients attending clinic in national orthopedic hospital, Enugu, Nigeria. World Journal of Advanced Research Review, 21(02), 1652–1659.
Mohammed, A., Seid, M., Gebrecherkos, T., Tiruneh, M. and Moges, F. (2017). Bacterial isolates and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of wound infections among inpatients and outpatients attending the University of Gondar referral hospital, Northwest Ethiopia. International Journal of Microbiology, 8953829
Mulu, W., Abera, B., Hailu, T., Ayele, H. and Abate, D. (2017). Bacterial agents and antibiotic resistance profiles of infections from different sites that occurred among patients at Debre Markos referral hospital, Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 10(1):254.
Njoku, C., Okoro, C. G., Igwe, T. S., Ngene, P. N. and Ajana, A. J. (2015). Evaluation of water sources in Abakiliki southeastern Nigeria for domestic uses. Journal of Agricultural and Ecological Research, 2(1):87-91.
Nobel, F. A., Islam, S., Babu, G., Akter, S., Jebin, R., Sarker, T., Islam, A. and Johirul, M. (2022). Isolation of multidrug resistance bacteria from the patients with wound infection and their antibiotics susceptibility patterns: A cross-sectional study. Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 14:84:104895.
Oladeinde, B. H., Omoregie, R., Olley, M., Arurube, J. A. and Onifade, A. A. (2013). A 5-year surveillance of wound infections at a rural tertiary hospital in Nigeria. African Health Science, 13(2):12-22
Onsando, S., Masanta, W., Nyerere, A., Njire, M. and Moriasi, G. (2025). Diversity and antibiotic susceptibility profiles at the surgical unit of Kisii teaching and referral hospital, Kenya. PLoS One, 20(6): e0326048
Sharma, S., Chauhan, A., Ranjan, A., Mathkor, D. M., Haque, S., Ramniwas, S., Tuli, H. S., Jindal, T. and Yadav, V. (2024). Emerging challenges in antimicrobial resistance: implications for pathogenic microorganisms, novel antibiotics and their impact on sustainability. Frontiers in Microbiology, 15:1403168
Shimekaw, M., Tigabu, A. and Tessema, B. (2022). Bacterial profile, antimicrobial susceptibility pattern and associated risk factors among patients with wound infections at Debre Markos referral hospital, Northwest, Ethiopia. International Journal of Low Extreme Wounds, 21(2):182-192.
Tom, I. M., Ibrahim, M. M., Umoru, A. M., Umar, J. B. Bukar, M. A, Haruna, A. B. and Aliyu. A. (2019). Infection of wounds by potential bacterial pathogens and their resistogram. Open Access Library Journal, 6(7): 1-3
Wang, C., Niu, X., Bao, S., Shen, W. and Jiang, C. (2024). Distribution patterns and antibiotic resistance profiles of bacterial pathogens among patients with wound infections in the Jiaxing region from 2021 to 2023. Infectious Drug Resistant, 9(17):2883-2896.
Wise, J. (2025). One in six bacterial infections worldwide are now resistant to antibiotics, WHO warns. The British Medical Journal, 391: r2165
World Health Organization (2025). Global antibiotic resistance surveillance report. https://www.who.int.
Yucens, M., Sari, T., Aydemir, N., Ozturk, S. S., Akman, A., Inal, O. and Demirkan, F. (2025). Evaluation of pathogens isolated from wound infections and their antibiotic susceptibility profiles in wound care unit. Journal of Infections in Developing Countries, 19(9): 1351 – 1358
Zabaglo, M., Leslie, S. W. and Sharma, T. (2024). Postoperative wound infections. National Library of Medicine, Bookshelf ID: NBK560533 PMID 32809368
Zhao, C. and Zhao, W. (2020). NLRP3 Inflammasome – A key player in antiviral responses. Frontiers in Immunology, 11:211.