Antibiotics (Mar 2023)

<i>Staphylococcus</i> spp. Causatives of Infections and Carrier of <i>blaZ</i>, <i>femA</i>, and <i>mecA</i> Genes Associated with Resistance

  • Laryssa Ketelyn Lima Pimenta,
  • Carolina Andrade Rodrigues,
  • Arlindo Rodrigues Galvão Filho,
  • Clarimar José Coelho,
  • Viviane Goes,
  • Mariely Estrela,
  • Priscila de Souza,
  • Melissa Ameloti Gomes Avelino,
  • José Daniel Gonçalves Vieira,
  • Lilian Carneiro

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12040671
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 4
p. 671

Abstract

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Staphylococcus spp. have been associated with cases of healthcare associated infections due to their high incidence in isolates from the hospital environment and their ability to cause infections in immunocompromised patients; synthesize biofilms on medical instruments, in the case of negative coagulase species; and change in genetic material, thus making it possible to disseminate genes that code for the acquisition of resistance mechanisms against the action of antibiotics. This study evaluated the presence of blaZ, femA, and mecA chromosomal and plasmid genes of Staphylococcus spp. using the qPCR technique. The results were associated with the phenotypic expression of resistance to oxacillin and penicillin G. We found that the chromosomal femA gene was present in a greater proportion in S. intermedius when compared with the other species analyzed, while the plasmid-borne mecA gene was prevalent in the S. aureus samples. The binary logistic regression performed to verify the association among the expression of the genes analyzed and the acquisition of resistance to oxacillin and penicillin G were not significant in any of the analyses, p > 0.05.

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