ABSTRACT

Ocular bacterial normal flora is microorganism which are found on the eyelids and conjunctiva, they maintain a homeostatic state with the antimicrobial enzyme lysozyme found in tears. Most swimmers usually present with "swimmers’ eye" a combination of dry eyes, itchy eyes, redness, swollen eye or lid, as a result of the compromise in the ocular flora. The purpose of this study is to investigate the ocular bacterial flora and antibiotic susceptibility pattern in habitual swimmers in university of Benin swimming pool, Ugbowo campus, Edo state, Nigeria. MacConkey agar and nutrient agar were used to inoculate the samples, microbes isolated were identified using standard microbiological and biochemical techniques. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed to ascertain the sensitivity or resistant status of each isolate. The data obtained from this study was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22.0. Descriptive statistics of variables was presented using frequency, graphs, percentage. A total of 34 samples were collected from 34 right eyes of willing participants between the ages of 18-35 who gave their consent. The participants comprise of 22 males and 12 females, the mean age of these participants was (21.53+_2.809), the minimum age of these participants was (18) while the maximum was (28). Specific variables showed significant (P<0.05) relationship between the colony forming unit (CFU) counts using Chi square. These variables include data list consisting of swimmers and non-swimmers (P=0.001), swimming frequency (P=0.002 and P=0.001), contact lens use (P=0.001), swimming google use (P=0.001), bath before and bath after swimming (P=0.001).