Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from an intensive care unit in Minas Gerais, Brazil, over a six-year period

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from an intensive care unit in Minas Gerais, Brazil, over a six-year period

Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases, November 2017

29169012

Thiago C. Nascimento, Cláudio G. Diniz, Vânia L. Silva, Alessandra B. Ferreira-Machado, Marina O. Fajardo, Tamara Lopes R. de Oliveira, Dennis de C. Ferreira, Fernanda S. Cavalcante, Kátia R. Netto dos Santos

To characterize methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates from an intensive care unit of a tertiary-care teaching hospital, between 2005 and 2010. A total of 45 MRSA isolates were recovered from patients admitted to the ICU in the study period. Resistance rates higher than 80% were found for clindamycin (100%), erythromycin (100%), levofloxacin (100%), azithromycin (97.7%), rifampin (88.8%), and gentamycin (86.6%). The SCCmec typing revealed that the isolates harbored the types III (66.7%), II (17.8%), IV (4.4%), and I (2.2%). Four (8.9%) isolates carried non-typeable cassettes. Most (66.7%) of the MRSA isolates were related to the Brazilian endemic clone (BEC)/CC8/SCCmec III, which was prevalent (89.3%) between 2005 and 2007, while the USA100/CC5/SCCmec II lineage emerged in 2007 and was more frequent in the last few years. The study showed high rates of antimicrobial resistance among MRSA isolates and the replacement of BEC, a well-established hospital lineage, by the USA100 in the late 2000s, at the ICU under study.