Wajid Hussain, Aamer Ikram, Tariq But, Ali Faraz, Ashraf Hussain, Amin Wiqar.
In vitro susceptibility pattern of Staphylococcus Aureus clinical isolates at Rawalpindi.
Pak J Pathol Nov ;19(1):12-5.

Objective: To determine the susceptibility pattern of Staphylococcus aureus isolates and frequency of MRSA from clinical specimens submitted at Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi. Place and duration of study: Study was conducted at Department of Microbiology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi, from April 2007 through March 2008. Subjects and methods: Clinical specimens were cultured on Blood agar and MacConkey agar and incubated at 37°C aerobically for 2448 hours. Staphylococcus aureus isolates were identified by colony morphology, Gram`s stain, catalase, coagulase and DNase tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed according to the MI guidelines using modified Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion technique. MRSA were detected by 1 ug oxacillin disk on Mueller-Hinton agar containing 2% NaCI and further confirmed by oxacillin screening agar and E-Test. Results: Out of 859 Staphylococcus aureus isolates, 62.5% were isolated from pus and pus swab followed by blood (11.2%), body fluids (7.1%), tissue (5.2%), drain tips/IN cannula (5.1%), sputum (4%), urine (3.5%) and catheter tips (1.4%). MRSA was identified in 62.5% cases. Majority of the isolates were resistant to penicillin (99%), erythromycin (66.8%), clindamycin (52.3%), coamoxiclav (62.4%), doxycycline (67%), co-trimoxazole (57.5%), gentamicin (60.4%), amikacin (48.5%), ciprofloxacin (62.4%) and sparfloxacin (58.2%). None of the isolate showed resistance against vancomycin and techoplanin, while most of the isolates were sensitive to fusidic acid (92.6%) and rifampicin (64.6%). Conclusion: More than 75% of the isolates were resistant to commonly used anti-staphylococcal antimicrobials and frequency of MRSA has considerably increased. Appropriate measures should be adopted to prevent the spread of infections caused by MRSA and avoid therapeutic failures.

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