Abstract

Wound infections present a persistent challenge in healthcare, particularly in developing countries where limited resources affect treatment outcomes. Among causative agents, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is of major concern due to its ability to resist multiple antibiotics and survive in hospital settings. The study therefore bothered on Antibiotics Resistance and Plasmid Curing Studies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa associated with wound infections amongst patients accessing University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Rivers State, Nigeria. A total of 150 wound samples were screened using standard microbiological procedures. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted with the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method, as prescribed by CLSI. The study indicted high antibiotics resistance profile, with the percentage of the isolates showing resistance to Cefuroxime (96.3%), Cefixime (92.6%), and Augmentin (92.6%). The isolates were however least resistant to Ciprofloxacin (37.0%). Multiple Antibiotics Resistance (MAR) index values varied, with most of the isolates having MAR index value that exceeded 0.2. Plasmid curing using acridine orange reduced resistance and MAR index values in some strains, demonstrating the role of plasmids in multidrug resistance. The study has confirmed that multidrug resistance in P. aeruginosa was plasmid-mediated. Effective treatment should therefore be guided by current laboratory diagnoses. Further research is recommended on the prevalence and mechanisms of Pseudomonas species in wound infections to better inform therapeutic approaches.