Isolation, Identification and Antibiotic Susceptibility OfBacillus Spp

This book was carried out to isolate and identify Bacillus spp that are associated with the hands of apparently healthy female undergraduate students in Obafemi Awolowo University. The samples were collected using sterile swab sticks dampened into sterile 0.85% normal saline and processed immediately in the laboratory. The isolates were sub-cultured on sterile nutrient agar plates and this process was repeated until pure colonies were obtained and observed for morphological characteristics. The isolates were subjected to various biochemical tests and results were interpreted using Bergey¿s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology and antibiotic susceptibility testing was carried out using agar disc diffusion method on Mueller Hinton agar, incubated at 37 o C for 24 hours. A total of 20 samples were collected and Bacillus spp was found to be 60%. Bacillus spp was 100% susceptible to Streptomycin, Pefloxacin, Ciprofloxacin and Gentamycin while they were 50% resistantto Amoxicillin and Ampiclox. The study concluded that Bacillus spp abound in the hands of the students; as such proper hand hygiene should be practiced regularly.