Vol. 14 No. 1-25 (2023): Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance Profile of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from Patients attending Selected Federal Hospitals in Parts of North Central Nigeria
The study investigated the prevalence and antibiotic resistance profile of Streptococcus
pneumoniae , within the study area. The screening of 768 specimens collected from the study
areas revealed that, 29.2% of the samples were positive for Streptococcus pneumoniae , while
Klebsiella pneumoniae , Streptococcus pyogenes , and Moraxella catarrhalis were identified in
10.2%, 14.8%, and 10% of the samples, respectively. Additionally, Haemophilus influenzae ,
Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were observed in 4.4%,
19.9%, 8.2%, and 3.3% of the samples, respectively. The prevalence rate of S. pneumoniae
within the study locations were 30.6%, 26.1%, 29.2% and 31.5% from UATH, Keffi, Bida and
Lokoja centres respectively. The highest antibiotic resistance rates shown by Streptococcus
pneumoniae were observed against the more frequently consumed antibiotics such as
cefotaxime, ampicillin, tetracycline, co-trimoxazole, with average resistance rates of 53.8%,
53.7%, 53.7%, and 53% respectively. Conversely, the lowest resistance rates of 11.3%, 33%
and 37.5% were observed against levofloxacin, cephalexin and linezolid, respectively. The
study observed an average multidrug resistance rate (MDR) of 59.7% with the highest MDR
rate of 69.02% recorded from Gwagwalada center. Analysis, of infection rates by age
distribution, showed that the highest infection rate was among the pediatric patients, below
5 years (74.2%), followed by the age bracket above 65 years (66.4%). There was a higher
infection rate among females (66.1%), compared to males (52.4%). Patients with tertiary
education exhibited a slightly lower infection rate of 24.6%, in contrast to 32.9% and 27 % for
those without formal education and with secondary education, respectively. Slightly higher
infections rates were observed in the months of December and January. This was probably due
to the cold, windy and drier weather condition, which encouraged sneezing by carriers and so
increasing chances of the disease spreading to healthy persons.