Transfer of Amoxicillin Resistance Gene Among Bacterial Isolates From Sputum of Pneumonia Patients Attending the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria.

A total of 160 sputum samples were obtained from pneumonia patients (1 – 30 years) attending the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City. The microorganisms encountered included Streptococcus viridians, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Staphylococcus species. S. viridans was highest in occurrence (51.5%) and Staphylococcus spp. was the least (2.9%). Their antibiotic resistance pattern revealed that streptomycin had the highest activity (94.1%) and gentamycin the least (23.8%). Amoxicillin resistance gene (amxr) was detected in 89 (88.1%) out of the total isolates. When these resistant isolates were subjected to curing using 10% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 73 (82.0%) lost their resistance genes. An average transfer rate of 53.88% and 33.59% were obtained for intraspecies and intergeneric transfer of amxr gene respectively. Intraspecies gene transfer rate was significantly higher than intergeneric at p < 0.001, using the chi – square goodness of fit test for statistical analysis.