evaluation of antimicrobial agents on microbial pathogens of reproductive health importance in a developing country

objective: the present study was carried out to determine the most potent available antimicrobials in the treatment of pathogens of reproductive health importance in nigeria. material and methods: using the agar disc-diffusion and modified agar well-diffusion methods, bacterial and fungal pathogens obtained from clinical specimens of female patients presenting at the university college hospital, nigeria were screened in vitro against the most commonly-available routine antibiotics and antifungals in nigeria. results: the gram-negative bacterial pathogens were mostly susceptible to azthromycin, fortum, ceftriazone, ofloxacin, perfloxacin, rocephine and zinnat. the gram-positive bacterial pathogens were mostly susceptible to ceftriazone, perfloxacin, rocephine, ciprofloxacin, azthromycin, zinnat and erythromycin. high overall phenotypic antibiotic resistance was displayed towards ampicillin, septrin, gentamicin, penicillin, streptomycin and tetracycline. the gram-positive bacterial pathogens were mostly resistant to ampicillin (66.7 – 94.4%); streptomycin (53.8 – 100%); chloramphenicol (77.8 – 100%), penicillin (72.2 – 100%) and septrin (50.0 – 91.4%). the most generally resisted antibiotics among the gram-negative bacteria were gentamicin (40.0 - 75.0%); tetracycline (57.1 - 100%); ampicillin (75.5 - 100%); streptomycin (79.4 - 100%); penicillin (91.4 - 100%) and septrin (76.5 - 91.4%). the candida species were mostly resistant to all the test antifungals except candida albicans. conclusion: the findings of this study reported that the old-generation antibiotics were mostly resisted by the bacterial pathogens implicated in rhi, indicating their non-suitability as regimen for treatment of reproductive health infections. however, these antibiotics are the most abused in nigeria, especially through self-medications because they are the most available and affordable.