Research Article
Ojo BA, Adebolu TT and Odin
Abstract
In this study, the blood CD4 count and the bacterial profile in the stool of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive individuals attending Antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic in a tertiary health institution in Ekiti State, Nigeria was investigated. In addition, the antibiogram of the bacterial isolates was also investigated. A total of 150 HIV patients was recruited for the study. Samples of their blood and stool were collected for the investigation. Their blood was used to determine their CD4 count using cytometry method while their stools were cultured on microbiological media and pure isolates were identified using standard microbiological techniques. The antibiogram of the isolates was determined using disk diffusion method. HIV negative individuals were used as control. The results showed that the CD4 count of HIV patients ranged from 5 to 1278 cells/mm3, while the most frequently encountered bacteria in their stool are Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Morganella morganii, Aeromonas sp, Enterococcus sp. and Lactobacillus sp. All these bacterial spp however are absent from the stool of the control subjects. Pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella typhi [6 (40% and 4 (26%)], Shigella species [7 (41%) and 5 (28%)], Pseudomonas aeruginosa [3(37.5%) and 4(50%)] were prevalent among patients with CD4 count level 200-350 cellmm3 and 200 cell/mm3 respectively but are statistically insignificant (p>0.05). The isolated bacterial spp., were resistant to most of the conventional antibiotics tested and the resistance was plasmid mediated in 95.2% of the isolates. This study shows the importance of investigating associated bacterial pathogens in HIV patients and evaluating the antibiogram profile of such pathogens before prescribing antibiotics to such patients in order to checkmate bacterial infections that may complicate the infection.