[Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in Castellón General Hospital (2001-2005)]

The aim of this study was to know the frequency of bacteremias produced by Staphylococcus aureus and the sensibility that strains showed, as well as the clinical characteristics of the patients.

We retrospectively studied cases of S. aureus bacteremia detected in our hospital from 2001 to 2005 and also reviewed medical histories from patients during 2005.

A total of 295 cases of S. aureus bacteremia were detected in this study. Annual distributions of the cases were as follows: 35, 54, 62, 64 and 80. By gender, 62.7 % related to males and 37.3 % to females. A total of 58.6 % of the patients were admitted to medical services and 49 % were older than 65 years. Regarding resistance, 34 % of the strains showed resistance to oxacillin, 33 % to ciprofloxacin, 41 % to erythromycin and 4.4 % to gentamicin. In one-third of the patients, S. aureus was isolated in other samples, the catheter being the most common. A total of the 73.5 % of the patients had some baseline disease and the most frequent predisposing factor was the intravascular catheter. The bacteremias were nosocomial-acquired in 73.5 % of the cases.

In our hospital, S. aureus bacteremia and oxacillin resistance has been increasing over the years of this study.