Occurrences of Metalo-β-lactamase Producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa among Clinical Samples in Kwara state, Nigeria

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a frequent nosocomial pathogen that causes severe disease in many clinical and community settings. The objective of this paper was to isolate Pseudomonas aeruginosa from clinical samples and to investigate the occurrence of metallo β- lactamase enzyme production by collecting 145 males and 90 females’ human clinical specimens from five selected health institutions within Kwara state, Nigeria. The samples were cultured immediately using standard microbiological procedures. Multiple drug resistance patterns of the bacteria to different antibiotics were determined using the Bauer Kirby disc diffusion technique. Metallo – β lactamase production was determined using E – test strip. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. A total of 145 isolates were identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the clinical samples.Thirty were positive for metallo β lactamase production; 11 (8 %) males and 19 (13 %) females. Absolute resistance to ceftazidime (100 %), gentamicin (100 %), ceftriaxone (100 %) were observed while low resistance to ciprofloxacin (12.4 %), piperacillin (6.9 %) and imipenem (6.9 %). All isolates were sensitive to colistin. This study had demonstrated that there is a high occurrence of metallo β lactamase enzyme producing and antibiotic-resistant strains of P. aeruginosa in clinical specimens from the studied area. Necessary measures must be implemented to stop the problems of this antibiotic resistance.