Antibiogram Patterns of Staphylococci isolated from the Nasal and Axilla of Healthy Individuals in Nila

Abstract

An antibiogram study suggests the prescription patterns of antibiotics in a location through which,
the prescription of certain antibiotics can be controlled to minimize the rise of antibiotic resistant
bacteria. S. aureus, S. epidermidis and P. acnes are common bacteria of the skin, nasal and axillae.
However, many of these bacteria are gaining resistance towards antibiotics. Thus, the objective of
this study was to discover the antibiogram of the common microflora isolated from the axillae and
nasal cavity of 25 healthy individuals aged 18-50 in Nilai. The bacterial samples were aseptically
obtained, cultured in nutrient broth and streaked onto nutrient agar to obtain pure cultures. The
pure cultures were subjected to Gram-staining, catalase test, and grown on mannitol salt agar. The
antibiotic susceptibility testing were performed to characterize the susceptibility of the bacterial
isolates towards amoxicillin, cefazolin, erythromycin, cefoxitin, trimetoprima/ sulfametoxazol,
tetracycline and gentamycin on Mueller Hinton agar. Pure cultures of 78 axillae and nasal samples
were screened in this study. 65.38% of the bacterial isolates were gram positive bacteria
comprising of S. aureus, S. epidermidis and possibly Propionibacterium and Corynebacterium.
Out of the 24 isolates of S. aureus and S. epidermidis, 18.42% were found to be sensitive to the
tested antibiotics whereas, 7.89 % showed resistance to more than one antibiotic. 28% of the
staphylococci showed resistance towards amoxicillin. Although amoxicillin-resistance among
gram positive staphylococci has been reported previously, it is also crucial to note that the transfer
of resistant bacteria is likely to increase with imprudent prescriptions of antibiotics and improper
hygiene practices of individuals. Although the sample size used in this were rather small, the
findings in this study could be used for a definitive antibiotic therapy among gram positive
infections in Malaysia