Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen in human infections and has become public health concern. This study investigated the incidence of Staphylococcus aureus in various clinical samples from in- and out-patients attending Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki. Clinical isolates from the hospital was confirmed as Staphylococcus aureus using standard bacteriological techniques. This study reports the isolation and identification of Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase negative staphylococci and catalase negative cocci in clinical samples at Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki. Out of a total of 144 putative isolates of Staphylococci from urine, ear and wounds screened for Staphylococcus aureus, 87 of them were confirmed as S. aureus, 30 were coagulase negative staphylococci while 27 were catalase negative cocci. The high incidence of S aureus in this study compared to other staphylococci demonstrates the versatility and propensity of S. aureus to cause diseases. This is worrisome because of the high mortality and morbidity often associated with infections of this bacterium. It therefore calls for proper handling of specimen suspected to contain the organism or patients who might be at risk of infection. This is to avoid transmission to other patients and healthy individuals especially health workers as they might constitute vehicles for the spread of the organism. Further studies are recommended because of the small sample size in this study. This would help to establish whether this was peculiar to the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki or wide spread in other hospitals in the State.
 

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