Sporadic methicillin resistance in community acquired Staphylococcus aureus in Mozambique

This study reports the drug resistance and clonal relationship of 24 Staphylococcus aureus community acquired isolates from patients attending Maputo Central Hospital, Mozambique, during one year (2002-2003). All the isolates produced beta-lactamase, six strains were resistant to tetracycline alone, three were resistant to erythromycin alone and one was resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole; 11 were susceptible to all other drugs tested. Only one strain showed a multiple resistance pattern, including methicillin resistance. To investigate the clonal relationships we applied the ERIC AP-PCR and the SmaI PFGE RFLP methods. Overlapping drug resistances with these two molecular profiles, no significant correlation was obtained. The emergence of methicillin resistance in a multiple resistant strain is of great concern for resistance spreading surveillance in Mozambique.