Transfer of Amoxicillin Resistance Gene Among Bacterial Isolates From Sputum of Pneumonia Patients Attending the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria.

A total of 160 sputum samples were obtained from pneumonia patients (1 – 30 years) attendingthe university of benin teaching hospital, benin city. the microorganisms encounteredincluded streptococcus viridians, staphylococcus aureus, klebsiella pneumoniae,moraxella catarrhalis and staphylococcus species. s. viridans was highest in occurrence(51.5%) and staphylococcus spp. was the least (2.9%). their antibiotic resistance patternrevealed that streptomycin had the highest activity (94.1%) and gentamycin the least(23.8%). amoxicillin resistance gene (amxr) was detected in 89 (88.1%) out of the totalisolates. when these resistant isolates were subjected to curing using 10% sodium dodecylsulfate, 73 (82.0%) lost their resistance genes. an average transfer rate of 53.88% and33.59% were obtained for intraspecies and intergeneric transfer of amxr gene respectively.intraspecies gene transfer rate was significantly higher than intergeneric at p < 0.001, usingthe chi – square goodness of fit test for statistical analysis.