Prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Karnataka

This study was undertaken to find out the prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in our hospital and to compare their antibiotic susceptibility pattern with methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). 100 strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from various clinical samples were screened for MRSA by disc diffusion method using 1 gm oxacillin disc. Antibiotic sensitivity testing was done by Kirby-Bauer's disc diffusion method. Out of these, 43% were identified as MRSA and the remaining 57% were MSSA. There was a marked difference in antibiotic sensitivity pattern of these M RSA versus the MSSA isolates. None of the MRSA isolate was found to be sensitive to amoxycillin while 36.8% of MSSA were sensitive to this antibiotic. 9.3%, 18.6%, 34.9% and 95.3% of MRSA were sensitive to cotrimoxazole, cloxacillin, ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol, while 75.4%, 92.9%, 91.2% and 94.7% of MSSA were sensitive to these antibiotics respectively. Sensitivity to macrolide group of antibiotics like erythromycin and roxithromycin were seen in 7% and 14% of MRSA in comparison to 85.9% and 91.2% of MSSA respectively. Amongst the aminoglycosides like gentamicin and amikacin, the sensitivity of MRSA was found to be 18.6% and 46.5% and that of MSSA was 98.2% and 94.7% respectively. Sensitivity to cephalosporins like cephalexin and cefotaxime was seen in 23% and 25.5% of MRSA, whereas 100% of MSSA were sensitive to these antibiotics. All Staphylococcus aureus isolates were found to be uniformly sensitive to vancomycin. Majority of the isolates belonged to phage group III and the common phage types were 54, 54/75 and 54/75/85.