Frequency of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Associated with Wound Infections in Patient at some Hospitals –Khartoum State

Abstract

The emergence of resistant strains has considerably increased the burden of morbidity associated with wound infections, increased frequency of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and possibility of vancomycin resistance requires rapid and reliable characterization of isolates and control of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus spread. This study had been carried out in Khartoum State during the period between March to July 2018, aimed to determine the frequency of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated from wound infections and to detect mecA gene among them using phenotypic and genotypic methods. One hundred wound swabs were collected from patients attending different hospitals including Bahari Teaching Hospital, Omdurman Teaching Hospital and National Public Health Laboratory. All wound swabs were inoculated on blood agar, MacConkey agar and Mannitol Salt agar plates and incubated at 37°C for 24 hours. The study population ages ranged between 1 up to 70 years old with mean age of 35.7±22 SD, 49 (49%) were males and51 (51% ) females. The types of wounds were as follows, 30% surgical, 50% traumatic and 20% diabetic wounds. The bacterial growth was observed and identified in 88 swabs (88%), (5%) have mix bacterial growth and 12(12%) showed no obvious growth. Out of 93 isolates, 26(28%) were S. aureus, and the susceptibility test showed that 10 (38.5%) isolated S.aureus were methicillin resistant S.aureus. All S.aureus isolates which were initially detected as methicillin resistant S.aureus by susceptibility test were positive for mecA gene by polymerase Chain Reaction( PCR) . In conclusion S.aureus is highly associated with causing wound infections and all MRSA were positive for mec A gene, further studies are needed to validate this result.