Abstract

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients and patients with underlying medical conditions. The prevalence of biofilm formation and muti drug resistant strains of P. aeruginosa isolates has been on the increasing. This study was aimed at in-vitro biofilm formation in metallo beta-lactamase producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa of clinical origin. A total of 590 different clinical samples were used for this study, during which the samples were collected from different units of Alex-Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital and Mile 4 Hospital in Abakaliki. Standard microbiological methods were used to identify the isolates. The isolated P. aeruginosa were further subjected to imipenem-ehylene diamine tetractic acid combine disc test (CDT) to ascertain the metallo beta-actamase production, biofilm assay using tube method to determine the ability of isolates to form biofilm. The isolates were also subjected to antibiotics susceptibility studies against different classes of antibiotics through disc diffusion method. Out of the 590 samples collected and screened, fifty nine (59) isolates were identified and characterized as P. aeruginosa. Thirty four (34) were metallo beta-actamase (MBL) producer, and 21 were biofilm producers. The antibiogram of the biofilm producing P. aeruginosa revealed high resistance rate to cefoxitin (95.2%), nalixidic acid (85.7%), cefepime (80.9%), piperaciilin (80.9%), ofloxacin (76.2%), colistin (76.2%), amikacin (76.2%), tetracycline (71.4%), amoxicillin (71.4%), and ceftriaxone (66.7%). Strict implementation and adherence to antibiotics stewardship in the hospital setting is highly recommended to control and manage the rising antibiotic resistance.

Keywords: In-vitro; Biofilm; Metallo beta-lactamase; Isolates.