Abstract

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Burden of morbidities and mortalities originating from bacterial pathogens and antibiotics resistance is on the rise, and hospital wastewaters are possible reservoirs of these pathogens. Infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance from Hospital Wastewaters could be spread into the environment. This study aimed at isolation, identification and antibiotic susceptibility characterization of hemolytic bacterial pathogens from hospitals wastewaters in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Hospital wastewaters (HWWs) were aseptically collected from four major Hospitals in Benin City, and selective media were used for bacterial isolation while identification was based on standard procedures. Sheep blood agar was used for hemolytic bacterial isolation, and isolates were subsequently assessed for Antibiotic resistance to common antibiotics using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Hemolytic bacterial pathogens recovered were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (23 %), Staphylococcus aureus (19.2 %), Salmonella spp (30.7 %), Escherichia coli (19.2 %) and Escherichia coli O157: H7 (7.6 %). High resistance against Augumentin (25 µg) was observed in Salmonella spp (90.6 %), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (79.2 %), Escherichia coli (50 %) and Escherichia coli O157: H7 (37.5 %). Conversely, Staphylococcus aureus (55 %) isolates were resistant to Amoxicillin (30 µg). All Gram negative hemolytic pathogens showed low resistance to Sparfloxacin (10 µg) and Ofloxacin (30 µg). Multiple antibiotics resistance index (MARI) greater than 0.2 was observed in 50 % of the hemolytic pathogens. Antibiotics resistance in hemolytic bacterial pathogens obtained in this study suggests their potential as sources of environmental and public health risks.

Keywords: Antibiotics, Bacterial pathogens, Hemolytic bacteria, Hospital wastewaters