Abstract:
Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most important and common cause of
community-acquired as well as hospital-acquired infections. Moreover,
methicillin resistant strains of S. aureus, usually being resistant to several
antibiotics, are now presenting the major threat in many different countries
throughout the world. The aim of this study was to determine the
prevalence of infection caused by S. aureus as well as MRSA strains and to
determine their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. A cross-sectional study
was carried out from September to December 2018 at IFCH, Kathmandu,
Nepal, in which 227 S. aureus isolated from 961 clinical specimens.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) identified by using
the Cefoxitin (30 μg) disc diffusion method followed by the Clinical and
Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI 2012) guidelines. Among 227
isolates, 55.9% (n=127) were from inpatients and 44.1% (n=100) were from
outpatients. Likewise, 62.5% (n=142) were from male patients and 37.4%
(n=85) were from female patients. Overall, the highest percentage of S.
aureus isolation (32.2%) was found in toddler’s age group. Antibiogram of
all 227 S. aureus strains showed chloramphenicol (78.4%) was most
effective drug, followed by meropenem (76.2%), clindamycin (74%) and
the least effective drug was found to be erythromycin (37.4%). Prevalence
of MRSA, using cefoxitin discs, was found to be 48% (n=109) whereas,
vancomycin was found to be 100% effective. Out of 109 MRSA strains, the
maximum number of strains (n=62) were isolated from the inpatients.
Similarly, in overall, the highest number of MRSA isolates (n=33) was
found in the patients of toddlers age group. High prevalence of
staphylococcal infection and the infection due to MRSA in the hospital
patients showed the need of regular surveillance. The study also showed the
need of evaluation of antibiotic disks before the study in Nepal
Description:
A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Microbiology/Central Campus
of Technology Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of
Science in Microbiology
(Medical)
