Antimicrobial Resistant Pattern of Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolated from the Stool of Healthy Volunteers of Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Amassoma, Bayelsa State

Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria is a normal flora of the human intestinal tract where they do not cause disease in normal circumstances but can also act as a human opportunistic pathogenic infection when it proliferates in increased amounts, where it may cause a host of health complaints and symptoms ranging from mild to serious infections (pneumonia, septicemia, Urinary tract infections). The virulence factors like capsule, lipopolysaccharide, and type 1 or type 3 fimbriae are responsible for K. pneumoniae to form biofilm. Klebsiella pneumonia responsible for serious outbreaks of multi-drug resistant diseases may be due to uncontrolled usage of antibiotics. Method The samples were isolated and identified using standard microbiological methods. The isolates were screened for possible virulence traits using the Blood agar test and Congo-Red test. Antibiotic susceptibility screening was carried out for the isolates. Results In this study (25.3%) Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were recovered from the 300 stool samples of the healthy student volunteers, of which 29(38.2%) were from males and 47(61.8%) from females. The 76 Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates screened are biofilm producers while none produced hemolysin. The antimicrobial susceptibility pattern for the 76 Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in this study revealed (Co-trimoxazole 3.9%, Ciprofloxacin 11.8%, Cefotaxime 9.2%, Ceftazidime 6.6% and Gentamicin 9.2%, Imipenem 17.1% and Ertapenem 40.8% and Nitrofurantoin (89.5%). In this study (17.1%) Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates exhibited multi-drug resistance. Conclusion Drug resistance surveillance has revealed that asymptomatic carriers in the community are often colonized with resistant bacteria that subsequently lead to infections.