Antibiotic resistance patterns of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from cardiovascular surgery associated infections

Staphylococcus (S.) aureus is one the most frequently isolated pathogen in intensive care units (ICU) and a common cause of nosocomial infections, resulting in a high degree of morbidity and mortality. In the present we are confronting with the globally increasing of frequency of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in hospital associated settings and, more recently, in community settings. The knowledge of the genetic support of antibiotic resistance mechanisms in S. aureus strains will help us to improve the management of clinical infections in patients from hospital acquired infections. The aim of this study was to establish by using phenotypic and genotypic methods the patterns of antibiotic resistance in 37 S. aureus strains isolated from different clinical specimens from patients with cardiovascular surgery associated infections. The high percent (64.86%) of MRSA strains detected in this study constitutes an alarm for therapeutic options, especially among immunocompromised patients with infections associated with cardiovascular devices. The reference method to identify staphylococcal methicillin resistance is mecA gene detection by gene amplification, should be introduced routinely in Romanian hospitals. The genetic methods could rapidly and effectively detect MLSB (macrolide, lincosamide and streptogramin B) and MDR (multidrug resistant) strains, becoming powerful tools in the epidemiologically studies, for monitoring the emergence of these strains in the hospital environment.