Abstract:

The skin is one of the largest organs in human body having multiple functions which is composed of three layers, epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous tissue or hypodermis. A diverse microflora is associated with the skin and mucous membranes of every human being which is normally established immediately following the birth of the newborn. That includes Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium, Propionibacterium, Micrococcus, Pseudomonas, Malasezzia and Demodex mites. Here, in this study, bacterial flora of human facial skin was isolated and identified on the basis of conventional biochemical profiles along with molecular characterization of bacterial isolates using universal target sequence analysis of 16S rDNA. The amplified products were sequenced using commercially available sequencing facilities. In silico studies was carried out to find out nucleotide sequence identity and homology of the obtained bacterial sequences using online application BLASTn. The sequences were submitted to GenBank for accession numbers. Finally, the antibiogram studies were performed to find out antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial isolates. In the present study a total of 50 samples were collected from facial skin of the students at Microbiology Department, GCUF. All samples were positive for bacterial growth. Out of all positive samples different bacterial pathogens were isolated which included 35 (70%) gram-positive cocci.  10 (20 %) were gram-positive rods and 5 (10%) were gram-negative rods. The biochemical characterization of isolated yielded S. aureus, S. epidermidis and Streptococcus pyogenes. Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most common pathogen among all isolates followed by S. aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes. S. epidermidis was resistant to tetracycline and Cephalexin. S. aureus was resistant to Amoxicillin, Tetracycline and Ampicillin where Streptococcus pyogenes was found resistant against Tetracycline.

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