Increasing trend of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Multidrug resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus have become a serious threat to hospitalized patients and health workers. Recently, this bacterium has emerged as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and this bacterial strain has turned into a superbug in the health domain. The main objective of the present study was to find out the prevalence of MRSA in different clinical samples. A total number of 155 clinical samples were collected from Sawai Maan Singh hospital in Jaipur from June, 2014 to January, 2015 and subjected to MRSA screening using biochemical and microbiological methods. An antibiotic sensitivity test was performed for the confirmation of MRSA. Out of 147 strains of Gram positive cocci isolated from clinical samples, 79 (53.74%) were found to be methicillin-resistant. Moreover, this study revealed that the major MRSA isolates were from pus swabs (37.70%) followed by wound swabs (30.40%), hand swabs (8.90%), surgical wound swab (7.60%), axilla swabs (6.32%) and nasal swabs (10.12%).   Key words: Methicillin, Staphylococcus aureus, penicillin, oxacillin, cefoxitin.