Antibiotic Resistance and Plasmid Analysis of Bacteria Isolated from Children with Bacteremia and Malaria in Ekiti State

Abstract

Increased resistance of bacteria isolated from children with bacteremia and malaria has being reported to be due to lack of laboratory investigations before antibiotics are prescribed alongside antimalaria. Therefore this study was carried out to determine the rate of resistance of bacteria isolated from children with bacteremia and malaria. A total of 34 bacteria strains belonging to 4 genera were isolated out of which 44.1% were E. coli, 29.4% were Staphylococcus aureus, 17.7% were Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 8.8% were Salmonella typhi. Fourteen (7.5%) of the children had concomitant bacteremia and malaria, Thirty seven (19.9%) had malaria only while 20 (10.8%) had bacteremia only. Twelve (80%) of the isolated E.coli  exhibited the highest resistance to augmentin while 6(60%) of the staph aureus exhibited the highest resistance to augmentin and ceftriaxone. Two (66.6%) of the salmonella typhi showed the highest resistance to ampicillin and ceftriaxone, while 3(50%) of the pseudomonas exhibited the highest resistance to gentamicine. The plasmid analysis of the selected antibiotic resistance bacteria shows that there are detectable plasmid in 3(37.5%) of the isolates. The post curing of the isolates containing plasmid shows that the resistance in E.coli was not plasmid mediated while the resistance in Staphylococcus aureus was plasmid mediated. In conclusion the result shows that the rate of antibiotic resistance is high among the children examined and it is not all the children who have malaria that also have bacteremia, therefore a proper laboratory test should be carried out before antibiotics is accompanied by antimalaria.