Shuja Ahmed¹, Afsheen Arif², Zubia Rashid³ and Tanveer Abbas¹*

¹Department of Microbiology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
²The Karachi Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, University of Karachi, Pakistan
³Pure Health Laboratory, Mafraq Hospital, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

*Corresponding Author: Tanveer Abbas, Department of Microbiology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.

Received: August 01, 2023; Published: October 19, 2023

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is accountable for a high number of infections in individuals within healthcare settings. Studies have shown that hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HA-MRSA) has become a pandemic in healthcare and hospital facilities with substantial variation in the infection rate within different geographical locations. The aim of the study was molecular identification of MRSA in clinical samples and antibiogram profiling of S. aureus isolates. A total of 50 samples (from blood, pus and urine) were selected after initial identification and were confirmed through conventional biochemical tests. Molecular identification and detection of MRSA strains were done via primer-specific 16s RNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the mec-A gene. Antibiotic susceptibility was performed against eight routine antibiotics. Among the 50 samples, 11 were positive for mec-A gene. Antibiotic profiling revealed that 84% of the samples were sensitive to Sulfamethoxazole, 64% were sensitive to Cefoxitin, 56% were sensitive to Vancomycin and 52% were sensitive to Tazobactam. Conversely, 78% of the isolates were Erythromycin resistant, 62% were Oxacillin resistant, 50% were Clindamycin resistant and 48% were resistant to Ciprofloxacin. Most of the bacterial strains were resistant to more than one antibiotic thus implying the high resistance rate of S. aureus against routinely administered antimicrobials. Furthermore, the study suggests that molecular methods such as PCR targeting the mec- A gene can be effective for the detection of MRSA.

Keywords: Antibiotic Susceptibility; Antimicrobial Resistance; Molecular Detection; PCR; S. aureus

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Citation

Citation: Tanveer Abbas., et al. “Molecular Detection of mec-A Gene and Antimicrobial Profiling of Clinically Associated Staphylococcus aureus".Acta Scientific Microbiology 6.11 (2023): 16-22.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Tanveer Abbas., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.