ANTIBIOTICS SUSCEPTIBILITY PATTERN OF BACTERIA AND FUNGI FROM SALIVA OF STUDENT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN

ABSTRACT

The saliva is a colorless, opalescent, physiological fluid of the oral cavity and contains a myriad of components like enzymes, mucinous substances, antibacterial components and other essential elements. Dislodgement of microorganism from colonizing aggregations in various locations of the oral cavity contributes to the microflora of the saliva. The aim of this study was to determine antibiotic susceptibility pattern of bacteria and fungi isolated from saliva of students in the University of Benin, Benin city, Nigeria. Samples were obtained from 20 students who spat into universal containers and the samples were cultured on blood agar and potato dextrose agar overnight. The isolates were identified by standard bacteriological tests. All samples were found to habour bacteria in saliva. Bacteria isolated from the saliva of the students were Streptococcus sp, having the highest percentage occurrence of 7(36.84%), Corynebacterium sp 3(15.79%), Fusobacterium sp 3(15.79%), Micrococcus sp 5(26.32%), and Staphylococcus sp 1(5.26%). The fungi isolate obtained was Candida sp. It was identified by its cultural and morphological characteristics. Gram positive organisms were prevalent (84.21%) compared to Gram negative organisms (15.79%). The antibiotics activity of the bacterial isolates were investigated using Mueller-Hinton agar well diffusion method. The result obtained revealed that, all the bacterial isolates were more susceptible to Gentamicin and less susceptible to Cefuroxime. The susceptibility pattern ranges from 0-100%. Each bacterial isolates were susceptible and resistance to other antibiotics used. Corynebacterium sp was susceptible to ceftriaxone and ofloxacin, Staphylococcus sp was resistant to Cetfazidime, Erythromycin and Cloxacillin, Streptococcus sp was also found to be resistant to Cloxacillin. Corynebacterium sp and Staphylococcus sp were beta-hemolytic 1(33.3%) and 1(100%) respectively, while Streptococcus sp was alpha-hemolytic 6(85.7%). This shows the ability of the organisms to lyse red blood cells.