Prevalence of Methicillin–Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the Community of Al-Majmaah/Saudi Arabia and Possibility of Resistance to Vancomycin and other Antimicrobial Agents

To determine the prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains among clinical isolates collected from 2 tertiary hospitals in Al- Majmaah, Saudi Arabia and to test the possibility of resistance to vancomycin and other antimicrobial agents. A total of 106 S. aureus clinical isolates were collected during a period of 6 months. The sensitivity patterns of these isolates were determined using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. The prevalence of MRSA among S. aureus isolates was (43.4%) 46/106. Among 46 MRSA isolates, 82.61% showed multidrug resistance to Ciprofloxacin Tetracycline, Chloramphenicol, Kanamycin and Erythromycin. 82.6 % of MRSA were sensitive to gentamicin. No resistance to Vancomycin. The rate of MRSA resistance in this study was higher than what had been reported in other areas of Saudi Arabia and other countries and the majority shows multidrug resistance .