The menace of beta-lactamase production on antibiotic prescription in community acquired-infections in Nigeria.

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is a major clinical problem in the management of infectious diseases. The production of beta-lactamases by pathogens of all grades which has spread extensively during the last decade has further narrowed down the choice of antibiotics. Those antibiotics that arc efficacious are costly and not readily available. The purposes of this study therefore were: To evaluate the incidence of beta-lactamase producing organisms responsible for common community acquired infections. To evaluate the incidence of bacterial resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics in the general practice. Nitrocefin strip was used to test each Isolate for beta-lactamase production. All isolates were tested against five commonly prescribed antibiotics and a new oral cephalosporin. A nationwide survey revealed that 78% of community-acquired pathogens produced betalactamases while more than 50% of most community isolated showed in-vitro resistance to most commonly prescribed antibiotics. We conclude that treatment of bacterial infections arc becoming more difficult and more costly. There is need therefore to continually review the susceptibility profiles of community-acquired pathogens.