Prevalence of Mupirocin Resistance in Patients Colonized with Staphylococcus Aureusin A Tertiary Care Rural Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus plays a key role in the epidemiology and pathogenesis of infection and is a major risk factor for the development of both community-acquired and nosocomial infections. A causal relationship between S. aureus nasal carriage and infection is supported by the fact that the nasal strain and the infecting strain share the same genotype. Nasal mupirocin, a nasal formulation is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for eradicating nasal carriage in patients as well as in health care personnel. The increasing prevalence of mupirocin resistance among Staphylococcus aureus & coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) species could be an important threat to the future use of mupirocin against MRSA. Thus this study was carried out with the aimsto know the prevalence of mupirocin resistance in Patients colonized with Staphylococcus spp. Methodology: A total of 229 hospitalised patients were randomly selected. S. aureus &CoNS isolates were tested for mupirocin resistance by the disk diffusion method using 5µg and 200µg mupirocin discs. Results: Out of 229 hospitalised patients, MRSA was isolated in 21(9.17%) and MRCoNS in 27(11.79 %). 5(2.18%) isolates were Mupirocin resistance. Low-Level Mupirocin resistance (MuL) was seen in 1(0.44%) of MRSA and High-Level mupirocin resistance (MuH) was noted in 4(1.74%) isolates of MRCoNS Conclusion: The presence of mupirocin resistance in 1(0.44%) of MRSA and 4(1.74%) of MRCoNS is a cause of concern. Hence it is recommended that routine testing of MRSA for mupirocin resistance be conducted. Keyword- Nasal carriage, MRSA, MRCoNS, Mupirocin resistance.