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Cite this article:
Durgadas Govind Naik, Alem Teclu. A study on antimicrobial susceptibility pattern in clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus in Eritrea. The Pan African Medical Journal. 2009;3:1 Key words: methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, antimicrobial resistance Permanent link: http://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/article/3/1/full Received: 12/05/2009 - Accepted: 11/06/2009 - Published: 17/08/2009 © Durgadas Govind Naik et al. The Pan African Medical Journal - ISSN 1937-8688. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
A study on antimicrobial susceptibility pattern in clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus in Eritrea
Durgadas Naik1&, Alem Teclu2
1Microbiologist/Associate Professor, College of Health Sciences, Asmara, Eritrea, 2ENT Surgeon, Sembel Hospital, Ministry of Health, Eritrea
&Corresponding author
Durgadas Govind Naik, P.O.Box-2024, University of Asmara, Asmara, Eritrea, Telephone: 00-291-7136899, Fax: 00-291-162236
Background
Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen in skin and soft tissue infections. Methicillin resistant S.aureus (MRSA) is prevalent in most of the countries wherever it is sought for. MRSA is one of the important pathogens implicated in hospital acquired infection. The main objectives of this study was to find out the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of S.aureus isolates, the prevalence of methicillin resistant S.aureus (MRSA) and nasal carriage rate in healthy hospital staff.
Method
A total of 278 S.aureus strains isolated from clinical specimens were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility and 30 anterior nares swabs from healthy hospital staff were screened for S.aureus organisms using standard methods.
Results
High resistance was observed against ampicillin, penicillin and tetracycline. High sensitivity was recorded against amikasin, amoxicillin-c and ciprofloxacin. Of the 278 isolates 26 (9%) isolates were methicillin resistant S.aureus (MRSA). 17 % of the hospital staff were positive for nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus.
Conclusion
Our study emphasizes the need for continuous monitoring of the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of S.aureus isolates including MRSA for the selection of appropriate therapy. In Eritrea, from the present findings it appears that the spread of MRSA in community and hospital settings is limited.
