Abstract
This
investigation was aimed at studying resistance marker loss of multidrug
resistant (MDR) Staphylococcus aureus strains after treatment with
sub-clinical dilutions of acridine orange. Seven (7) pure axenic strains of Staph
aureus coded SA1-SA7 isolated from seven infected human sources which included seminal fluid,
ear swab, midstream urine, wound swab, urethral swab, high vaginal swab and
endocervical swab respectively, were obtained from the Medical Microbiology
laboratory of the Delta state University Teaching Hospital, Oghara, Nigeria and
stocked on sterile Nutrient agar slants. Colonies from resulting stocked cultures
were re-confirmed by subculturing them on sterile Mannitol Salt agar plates and
incubated at 37oC for 24hours. Gram staining, catalase and coagulase tests were carried
out on resulting colonies. Antibiotic sensitivity test by agar disc diffusion
method was done on confirmed strains on sterile Mueller Hinton agar plates
before and after treatment with acridine orange (AO). Staph aureus strains
that showed ≤50.0% reduction in resistance marker after treatment with 0.35,
0.55, 0.75 and 0.95ug/ml dilutions of AO were noted. Minimum inhibitory
concentration (MIC) assay was done using gentamicin on SA1 strain with all four dilutions of
AO. All seven strains showed resistance against augmentin, amoxicillin and
cloxacillin. The highest (19.9± 2.3mm) and lowest (6.6 ± 7.3mm) zones of
inhibition recorded by all the strains were reactions to chloramphenicol and
cotrimoxazole respectively. Strains SA4, SA2 and SA7 recorded 17.0±4.9mm, 14.4±3.3mm, 14.0±5.9mm and
7.3±4.6mm mean zones of inhibition to gentamicin, erythromycin, chloramphenicol
and tetracycline respectively. Strains SA2, SA4 and SA7 were each resistant to three of the
total antibiotics used. Strains SA6, SA1, SA3 and SA5 were resistant to four, five, five and six of
the antibiotics used respectively. Mean loss of 50.0% or more of resistance
marker (RM) was recorded after treatment with 0.35ug/ml (60.0%), 0.95ug/ml
(52.7%) and 0.75ug/ml (52.2%) to erythromycin. There was zero loss of RM to
gentamicin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline after treatment with 0.55ug/ml,
0.35ug/ml and 0.75ug/ml AO respectively. Acridine orange dilutions of 0.95 and
0.35ug/ml produced an eight-fold (1.25ug) and four-fold (2.5ug) reduction
respectively in the minimum inhibitory concentration of gentamicin. The
implications of these findings are discussed.