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Updated: Jan 6, 2026
Biosensor for Detection of Antibiotic Resistant Staphylococcus Bacteria
Published on: May 8, 2013
Prevalence and molecular characterization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in acute and chronic
1Department of Medical Lab Technology, Kalar Technical College, Garmian Polytechnic University, Kalar, 46001, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
Background:
Sinusitis is a common respiratory infection increasingly associated with antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, posing significant treatment challenges. The emergence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in sinus infections necessitates comprehensive profiling of resistance patterns to guide effective therapy. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of MRSA in acute and chronic sinusitis, to characterize the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of S. aureus isolates, and to detect the presence of Sa442, mecA, femA, msrA, tetK and tetM genes.
Methods And Results:
Middle meatus swabs were collected from 81 patients with sinusitis. To reveal the spectrum of bacterial species, samples were first cultured on various media. All resulting isolates were then identified using the VITEK® 2 system, from which S. aureus was recovered from 13 patients. These 13 isolates underwent detailed susceptibility and molecular analysis. Phenotypic testing identified 11 (84.6%) isolates as MRSA, defined by cefoxitin resistance. This finding was strongly supported by molecular analysis, which detected the mecA gene in 10 isolates. All isolates were positive for the femA and msrA genes. The tetK and tetM genes were detected in 9 (69.2%) and 4 (30.8%) isolates, respectively.
Conclusions:
This study identified a high prevalence of multi-drug resistant MRSA in sinusitis, characterized by the frequent detection of mecA, tetK and tetM genes. These findings challenge empirical therapy and highlight the need for molecular diagnostics.
