Prevalence of multidrug resistant and extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the soil of hospital waste dumps

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Hospitals are important sources of waste, some of which may be contaminated by infectious agents. Thus, the release of improperly decontaminated hospital waste may lead to the introduction of pathogenic microorganisms into the environment. Due to limited resources, solid wastes generated from hospitals in developing countries are sometimes collected in open dump sites on hospital grounds for further processing. The health hazard of this waste management method was evaluated in this study by quantifying the prevalence of multidrug-resistant and Extended β-lactamases (ESBL)-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) in the soil of selected hospital waste dumps. Methods: Bacteria strains isolated from soil samples on cetrimide agar were identified as P. aeruginosa based on their cultural morphology, motility and biochemical characteristics. The susceptibility of identified P. aeruginosa isolates to selected antibiotics was evaluated by disc diffusion assay. Results: Forty-four of the bacteria isolates cultured from the soil samples were identified as P. aeruginosa. The fluoroquinolones antibiotics were most active against the P. aeruginosa isolates followed by the cephalosporins antibiotics tested. The phenotypic screening of the isolates for ESBL production showed that 29.55% of the isolates were ESBL producers. Conclusion: Soils of clinical dump sites are potential reservoir for multidrug resistant strains of P. aeruginosa from where they can be disseminated into the environment and as such constitute an infection exposure risk to humans.

Keywords

Main Subjects