HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by UDO, E.E. Articles by JACOB, L.E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by UDO, E.E. Articles by JACOB, L.E. Agricola Articles by UDO, E.E. Articles by JACOB, L.E.

Characterisation of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from Kuwait hospitals with high-level fusidic acid resistance

Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait

Corresponding author: Dr E. E. Udo (e-mail: EDET{at}hsc kuniv.edu.kw).

Received 30 March 1999; revised version received 6 Sept. 1999; accepted 16 Oct. 1999.

Abstract

Forty-seven fusidic acid- and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from clinical samples in four hospitals in Kuwait were studied for their relatedness by biotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and for the genetic location of their resistance determinants. Forty-four isolates were resistant to gentamicin, kanamycin and neomycin. Forty-one isolates were resistant to erythromycin and trimethoprim, 10 were resistant to chloramphenicol and four were resistant to ciprofloxacin. They contained two or three plasmids of c. 28, 2.8 and 1.8 kb. Genetic studies demonstrated that resistance to cadmium, propamidine isethionate and ethidium bromide were linked and were carried on the c. 28-kb plasmid. Chloramphenicol resistance was encoded by the 2.8-kb plasmid in resistant isolates. No resistance was associated with the 1.8-kb plasmid and this was considered to be a cryptic plasmid. Resistance to fusidic acid, methicillin, benzylpenicillin, gentamicin, kanamycin, neomycin, tetracycline, trimethoprim, erythromycin and ciprofloxacin were located on the chromosome. All the isolates produced urease, but varied in the production of haemolysins, pigments, lipase and lecithinase and were classified into nine biotypes. In contrast, PFGE divided the isolates into two major patterns with one PFGE type constituting the majority of isolates in all four hospitals. The presence of the dominant PFGE pattern in all four hospitals suggests that it is an epidemic MRSA clone with the capacity to spread. Infection control measures should be directed towards restricting the further spread of this clone.