ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Tahani F.H. Alahmadi1,2,3, Ziab Z. Alahmadey3, Khaled Elbanna1,2,4, Leena A. Neyaz1,2, Iqbal Ahmad5 and Hussein H. Abulreesh1,2
1Department of Biology, Faculty of Applied Science, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
2Research Laboratories Unit, Faculty of Applied Science, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
3Ohoud Hospital, Ministry of Health, Medina, Saudi Arabia.
4Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
5Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
Article Number: 8377 | © The Author(s). 2023
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2023;17(1):499-514. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.17.1.44
Received: 25 December 2022 | Accepted: 15 February 2023 | Published online: 02 March 2023
Issue online: March 2023
Abstract

Hospital acquired-Staphylococcus aureus (HA-Staphylococcus aureus), particularly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), are an important source of nosocomial infections with high morbidity and mortality rates. Few reports showed that infections due to HA-Staphylococcus aureus in Saudi Arabia is increasing, particularly infections attributed to HA-MRSA. The study aimed to explore the prevalence and clinical characteristics of HA-Staphylococcus aureus for the first time in Medina, Saudi Arabia. A total of 1262 clinical samples of hospitalized patients were examined for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus through selective culturing on mannitol salt agar. Vitek Compact System and conventional methods were followed to confirm the isolates. Vitek Compact System tested the antimicrobial susceptibility of isolates whereas the standard PCR was employed to detect the genes encoding antimicrobial resistance (mecA and vanA) and virulence factors (tst, et, and LukS-PV). The overall HA-Staphylococcus aureus prevalence was low (6.58%, n = 1262) of which 84.34% (n = 83) were MRSA. Approximately, 57 samples of the 70 MRSA (81.5%) exhibited a multidrug-resistance (MDR) pattern. All the 83 HA-Staphylococcus aureus isolates were negative for the genes encoding toxic shock syndrome toxin, exfoliative toxin, and Panton-Valentine leukocidin. The study was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic under partial lockdown, restricted hospitalization, and increased disinfection and infection control measures. Therefore, the low prevalence of HA-Staphylococcus aureus should be carefully interpreted and further multicenter investigations could reveal its true incidence in the city. The high prevalence of MDR HA-MRSA is alarming as it highlights inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions to counter staphylococcal infections. HA-Staphylococcus aureus investigated in this study might lack certain virulence factors. However, their MDR traits and invasive nature could worsen the situation if not properly handled.

Keywords

Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, mecA, Hospital-acquired, Antimicrobial Resistance, Virulence Factors

Article Metrics

Article View: 400

Share This Article

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.