Abstract

Ishaya Jerry*, Bashiru Ifedayo and Idubor Abel

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 autoagglutinating strains of Staphylococcus aureus are strongly associated with infertility with a statistical significance (X2 =10.83; P<0.001).