Bacterial Contamination of Labor Wards and Delivery Rooms from Selected Primary Healthcare Facilities in Abia State

Abstract

Bacterial contamination of the labor and delivery room is of clinical concern because it is one of the major risk factors of sepsis in neonates and most life threatening nosocomial infections for mothers after undergoing childbirth procedures. From six different Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC), 300 samples of fomites were taken. They were screened for the presence of bacterial pathogens. Preliminary identification of bacterial isolates was performed based on Gram stain reactions and standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done using Kirby- Bauer disc diffusion technique. The isolates of clinical importance observed wereStaphylococcus aureus (35.1%), Bacillus spp. (15.5%), Streptococcus spp. (14.8%), Escherichia coli (10.1%), Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus (CONS) (8.1%), Proteus spp. (7.4%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5.4%), Klebsiella spp. (1.3%). Eight (8) antibiotics used against Staphylococcus aureus which was the most prevalent isolate showed below 50% sensitivity. High level resistance to commonly prescribed and administered antibiotics was observed. The most frequently isolated bacteria in this study were consistent with the isolates which could cause nosocomial infections.