REJOICE AISOSA JOHN

Antimicrobial resistance is mainly caused by the overuse, underuse or misuse of antimicrobials. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is defined as a microorganism's resistance to an antimicrobial drug that was once able to treat an infection by that microorganism The present study was designed to assess the prevalence of MRSA among outpatients presenting Evboutubu primary health center, Egor LGA Benin city, Nigeria. A total of 11 urine and swab samples were studied between February 2021 to April 2021. This study was extrapolated from a wider study of MDRE and MRSA prevalence among patients in health centers in Benin-city, Nigeria. Microbial enumeration and identification were carried out using cultural and biochemical methods. Microbial counts were carried out using cultural characterization, Gram staining techniques and biochemical tests including; oxidase, indole, sugar fermentation, citrate, motility, methyl red, catalase, urease and antimicrobial susceptibility test (using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique). Most of the samples tested were positive for S. aureus and MRSA. From the study, it was observed that, patients between the ages of 18-24 and 25-34 had the highest percentage of MRSA (45.5%), while females had a higher percentage (54.6%) than males, other works had the highest frequency of 36.4% and Patients receiving between 11,000-99,999 had the highest percentage of 77.8%. Findings from this study revealed that both S. aureus and MRSA had high prevalence in the distribution by participants’ social demographic characteristics. Therefore, MRSA poses a potential public health risk and ntimicrobial sensitivity and resistance must ultimately be understood at the population, organism, cellular, and molecular levels if
antimicrobial resistance is to be reduced.