Objective: To determine the antibiotic susceptibility of K. pneumoniae isolates from Buea, Cameroon.
Design: A prospective study of K. pneumoniae isolates from clinical samples of nosocomial origin.
Setting: A laboratory based investigative study at the Biotechnology Centres of the Universities of Buea and Yaounde 1, Cameroon, and three Buea based hospitals. K. pneumoniae isolates were obtained from sputum, wound swabs and urine and screened for their antibiogram using standard procedures.
Results: Results on the antibiogram showed seven distinct antibiotypes distinguished by different susceptibilities to aminoglycosides (Spectinomycin and Gentamicin), Chloramphenicol and Augmentin. All the isolates shared multi-resistance to Amoxicillin and Trimethoprim. However, the isolates showed marked susceptibilities to Norfloxacin (90.01%), Cefuroxime (95.45%) and Ciprofloxacin (86.36%).
Conclusion: The study has revealed that K. pneumoniae isolates in the environment of Buea, Cameroon are multi-drug resistant. This finding is of clinical and epidemiological significance.