Prevalence and Antibiotic Susceptibility Profiles of Staphylococcus aureus Derived from Wound Samples of Diabetic Patients Attending the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is a common cause of delayed wound healing worldwide, especially among diabetic patients, due to the bacterium’s resistance to antibiotics. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of S. aureus, and potential risk factors for its occurrence in diabetic wound infections at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH). A purposive sampling method was used to select 156 diabetic patients aged 13 years or older attending the diabetic clinic. Wound swabs were collected aseptically, inoculated onto blood agar, and then sub-cultured on Mannitol Salt Agar. The isolates were characterized using biochemical tests, while antimicrobial susceptibility was assessed via the agar disk diffusion technique. Results showed that 19.87% were positive for S. aureus, while 80.13% were negative. Among the positive isolates, 10.48% showed intermediate sensitivity, and 29.03% exhibited resistance to at least one antibiotic. More than half of the isolates were susceptible to the tested antibiotics. The highest susceptibility was observed for Cefoxitin (96.77%) and Clindamycin (80.65%), while Ampicillin demonstrated the lowest susceptibility (25.81%). The study found a 19.87% prevalence of S. aureus in wounds of diabetic patients at the outpatient diabetic clinic of MTRH, with most isolates showing susceptibility to Cefoxitin, Erythromycin, and Clindamycin.