Vancomycin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates among hospitalized patients; a tertiary medical care center experience from Southern Iran

Abstract

Background and Objective: Bacterial resistance to different types of antibiotics has been globally emerging over recent years. The present study was carried out to investigate the rate of vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) at a tertiary medical care center in Kerman, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 250 samples with positive culture for coagulase-positive S. aureus, taken from the suspected infectious sites of patients admitted to different medical and surgical wards at Bahonar hospital from 2009 to 2011, were studied. Results: 9.2% of S. aureus isolates were found to be vancomycin-resistant. There was no significant difference in the rate of resistance between males and females (8 vs. 12.9%, respectively). Though the rate of resistance was shown to be marginally higher in post-surgical compared to medical ward patients, the difference was statistically insignificant (p = 0.8). Across the wards, general surgery housed the largest number of patients with VRSA (20%). Conclusion: The emergence of VRSA isolates has perhaps not received a great deal of attention so far. It appears that the increasing use of vancomycin in non-complicated infections may contribute to the emergence of S. aureus isolates which turn to be vancomycin-resistant.

Keywords

• staphylococcus aureus
• vancomycin
• bacterial resistance
• iran