Isolation of Staphylococcus spp. from hospital wastewater and adjacent community household water: Special focus on their antibiotic resistance

Abstract

Staphylococcus spp. is a leading cause of human bacterial infections. These infections can damage the skin, soft tissues, bones, circulation, and respiratory system. It has the unusual capacity to rapidly develop resistance to any antibiotic deployed against it. Antibiotic-resistant S. aureus strains are rising at an alarming rate, which not only limits treatment options but also makes it impossible to calculate the economic deprivation caused by this superbug. In this research, the antimicrobial resistance patterns of Staphylococcus spp. isolated from hospital wastewater and community household water samples were investigated for 15 different antibiotics. The antibiotic resistance pattern of these Staphylococcus spp. isolates was determined using the disc diffusion method. Staphylococcus spp. was particularly resistant to antibiotics in the penicillin category, such as Penicillin-G, Oxacillin, and Methicillin. 60% isolates of hospital wastewater sample were resistant to both penicillin-G and methicillin & 100% isolates of community household water were resistant to penicillin-G and methicillin; 100% isolates of both hospital and community were resistant towards oxacillin. 40% isolates of hospital wastewater were resistant to Tetracycline. 100% isolates of hospital wastewater showed resistance towards the antibiotic Ceftazidime which belong to the group cephalosporins and 60% isolates of community water were resistant to Ceftazidime. 20% isolates of hospital wastewater and 25% isolates of community water were resistant to the antibiotic Erythromycin of the macrolides group. Since Staphylococcus spp. samples were resistant to more than one class of antibiotics, it can be concluded that they exhibited multidrug resistance.