The antibiogram types of auto-agglutinating Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from the semen samples of males with infertility problems in Edo state, Nigeria

Abstract

There are several causes of infertility in males, including bacterial and other pathogenic infections. 
Staphylococcus aureus is a frequent isolated pathogen of the reproductive tract. In this work, a total of 431 males 
were enrolled for the study, with semen samples taken from all of them. Staphylococcus aureus with a total of 
105(47.73%) isolates had the highest prevalence of organisms isolated. Others were Escherichia coli 74(33.64%), 
Staphylococcus saprophyticus 32(14.55%), Proteus mirabilis 4(1.82%), Klebsiella species 3(1.36%) and 
Staphylococcus epidermidis 2(0.91%). The isolates were inoculated on Manitol Agar Salt (MSA) and Nutrient Agar. 
Isolates with opaque golden yellow colour with diameter 3 – 5mm were presumably identified as Staphylococcus 
aureus while, colonies with white to cream colours on Nutrient Agar were tested for coagulase activity, catalase 
test, staphyloslide test, hemolysis test, sensitivity to Novobiocin and Deferrioxamine to differentiate them. Using 
the single disc diffusion method, the antibiogram typing of the Staphylococcus aureus isolates were done with 21 
different antibiotics of various chemotherapeutic groups, following the Ajumali’s mnemonic typing. This revealed 
strain 40 (Ajumali’s mnemonic code: 0000000) to be completely resistant to the 21 test antibiotics. The auto
agglutinating strains of Staphylococcus aureus are strongly associated with infertility with a statistical 
significance (X2=10.83; P<0.001).