Frequency of community-acquired methicilin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a tertiary care hospital in Peru

In order to determine the frequency of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) isolates and to describe the antimicrobial resistance pattern and genotype, a cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017 at the Hospital Nacional Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru. We found a MRSA prevalence of 46.1% in the 115 analyzed S. aureus isolates; most were reported from different secretions (26.4%) and blood (18.9%). We found high co-resistance (>75%) to clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin and ciprofloxacin. Regarding SSCmec typification, most of the isolates were identified as hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA) and a minority of them as CA-MRSA (2.6%). Despite its low prevalence when compared to other Latin American countries (27%), epidemiological surveillance is recommended to control local CA-MRSA dissemination.