Maj Puneet Bhatt,Gurpreet Singh Bhalla,Kundan Tandel, Prashant Jindamwar, CN Chaudhari, Naveen Grover Ajay Kumar Sahni
Background: Staphylococcus aureus is a known cause of an array of infections ranging from minor skin and soft tissue infections to chronic bone infections and overwhelming septicemia and endocarditis. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is problematic, as the therapeutic outcome of MRSA infections is much worse than those caused by methicillin sensitive strains.
Aim: This study was conducted with an aim to determine the prevalence of MRSA among clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and also determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of MRSA isolates.
Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out from November 2011 to October 2013 in which 510 non-repetitive clinical isolates of S. aureus were identified by conventional phenotypic methods. MRSA isolates were identified using cefoxitin (30 μg) disc diffusion method. Complete antimicrobial susceptibility profile was also determined by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method. Susceptibility testing to vancomycin was done by E-test.
Results: The prevalence of MRSA among S. aureus isolates was found to be 20.2%. None of the isolates were sensitive to penicillin. However, all the isolates were found to be sensitive to vancomycin, teicoplanin and linezolid. Varying levels of resistance was seen to other antibiotics.
Conclusion: In this study, the prevalence of MRSA isolates was 20.2% which is much less as compared to other studies both in India as well as Western world. This study recommends routine screening of MRSA by cefoxitin disc and also determining the complete antimicrobial susceptibility profile of these isolates to treat these infections effectively.
