Antibiotic resistance in Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus involved in vaginitis: Case study of Dschang town, Cameroon

Abstract

Nowadays, vaginal candidiasis and bacterial vaginosis are frequently encountered in medical practice and antibiotic resistance in implicated pathogens has not been reported in Dschang. This study sought to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of 198 isolates of Candida albicans and 300 strains of Staphylococcus aureus which caused vaginal candidiasis and bacterial vaginosis in Dschang in 2003 and 2005 respectively, using a standardized disc diffusion technique. Results showed a significant high resistance (p<0.05) to ketoconazole (61.0%), fluconazole (74.7%), amphotericin B (79.3%) and griseofulvin (100%) by C. albicans. Sensitivity rates to commonly used antimycotics such as nystatin (100%), clotrimazole (82.3%) and miconazole (73.2%) are still very high, thus, in life threatening infections, treatment with these agents is advocated for empirical therapy. The profile of S. aureus heavily favours gentamycin (91.7%), amoxycillin - clavulanic acid (87.7%) and ciprofloxacin (81.3%) (p<0.05) which are commonly used. The extent of resistance to erythromycin (70.3%), cloxacillin, (76.6%) and penicillin (81.0%) favours their retirement consideration unless in vitro studies depict otherwise. Vancomycin exhibited 100% efficacy. The present findings highlight the need for a regular review of the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of commonly isolated organisms in any environment, with a view to ensuring a rational choice for both empirical and definitive antimicrobial chemotherapy.

Keywords: Vaginitis, Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, antibiotic resistance