Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance Profile of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from Wound Infections in Zaria, Nigeria.

Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been a major culprit in many problematic infections especially in wound infections due to its failure to respond to antibiotics and a leading bacterial agent in community acquired infections and infections acquired in hospitals. This study investigated the prevalence and antibiotic resistant profile of MRSA in patients with wound infections in Zaria. Two hundred and seventy-two wound swabs were collected from three hospitals in Zaria, Kaduna State. These were analyzed using standard microbiological and biochemical procedures for staphylococcal isolation. Confirmed S. aureus isolates were evaluated for methicillin resistance using cefoxitin disc and multidrug resistance status. Of the 272 suspected Staphylococcal isolates analyzed, 73 (27%) were confirmed as S. aureus isolates, of which 63 (86 %) were MRSA.  The infection rate of MRSA was found to be higher in males than in females. MRSA strains were 100 % resistant to the β- lactam antibiotics, with 57.1 % being multidrug resistant, but were susceptible to Gentamicin, Ciprofloxacin, Trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole and Tetracycline. We recorded a high proportion of MRSA and Multidrug resistant-MRSA isolates from wound infections in Zaria, thus, much emphasis on infection control measures should be prioritized. There is the need to increase the effectiveness of prevention and infection control measures as well as treatment of MRSA infections.