Survey of Enterococci in Public Hospitals in Uyo Akwa Ibom State Nigeria

Enterococci are gut flora of man and animals. They are implicated in various human infections especially nosocomial infection which is often resistant to antibiotic treatment. The study objectives were to determine the prevalence, antibiotic sensitivities and virulence factors of Enterococcus species from clinical samples. A descriptive cross-sectional study of three clinical samples from patients admitted in two public hospitals in Uyo. Sample collection and initial processing were done within two hours with standard techniques being followed for further isolation, identification, antibiotic susceptibility testing and detection of Enterococci virulence factors. A total of 200 samples from inpatients, aged between 16- 46 years, comprising 99(49.5%) females and 101(50.5%) males, were included in this study. Urine samples were 113(56.5%), while wound and stool samples were 54(27.0%) and 33(16.5%) respectively. The Enterococci isolates from urine were 9(47.4%), mostly Enterococcus faecalis 7(77.8); stool 6(31.6%), mostly E. faecium 3(50.0%) and wound 4(21.1%) which had both E. faecalis and E. durans. Only the stool sample had an isolate of E. gallinarium 1(16.7%). All the isolates were resistant to Ciprofloxacin, Gentamycin and Erythromycin, but showed some sensitivity to Ampicillin. Only E. durans and E. faecalis were sensitive to Vancomycin. The virulence factors expressed by the various strains were biofilm and haemolysin. Enterococus faecalis was the most prevalent Enterococcus in Public hospitals in Uyo. Although some of the isolates were sensitive to Ampicillin and Vancomycin, most were resistant to common antibiotics amidst the production of Biofilms and Gamma haemolysins as virulence factors.