Asymptomatic bacteriuria in Nigerian diabetics.

One hundred and ninety diabetic patients and an equal number of non-diabetic patients, age- and sex-matched, were screened for occurrence of asymptomatic bacteriuria. Of the diabetics 6.3% were found to have covert bacteriuria as were 5.3% of the control group. Asymptomatic bacteriuria was found to occur more commonly in females than males and in the patients who were over 40 years old. The incidence of bacteriuria was not found to be related to the degree of control in the diabetic patients. The most common organism cultured was E. coli.

Incidence of penicillinase producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG) strains and susceptibility of gonococcal isolates to antibiotics in Benin City, Nigeria.

Of 53 strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolated in Benin City, Nigeria, in February 1983 to October 1984, 46 (87%) produced penicillinase. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of penicillin G and ampicillin for these isolates were between 1 mg/l and and 50 mg/l. About 48% (22/46) of the penicillinase producing strains were also resistant to streptomycin, cotrimoxazole, and ampicillin and cloxacillin. All 53 isolates were sensitive to tetracycline, erythromycin, amoxycillin and clavulanic acid, nalidixic acid, spectinomycin, and the penicillinase stable cephalosporins. The high incidence of resistance may have been the result of indiscriminate and unsupervised use of antibiotics before patients presented for proper treatment in clinics and hospitals.

Comparative in vitro activity of ceftriaxone against clinical bacterial isolates in Nigeria.

The in vitro activity of ceftriaxone, a cephalosporin derivative, recently introduced in Nigeria was compared with the activities of other related beta-lactam antibiotics such as cefotaxime, cefuroxime, cephaloridine, cloxacillin/ampicillin and ampicillin against 530 local clinical isolates of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. The spectra of activity and potency of ceftriaxone and cefotaxime were generally similar against the Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia spp., Streptococcus spp. and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, but less active against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis when compared to cefotaxime. All the other beta-lactam antibiotics tested were less active than ceftriaxone. The action of ceftriaxone was bactericidal and the minimum inhibitory concentration values observed with R-plasmid beta-lactamase mediated resistant Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Proteus spp. and N. gonorrhoeae strains did not exceed the maximum value obtained with the beta-lactamase-negative strains.