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Antimicrobial susceptibillty of Staphylococcus aureus strains at Muhimbili Medical Centre, Tanzania.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of S. aureus isolates including the presence of methicillin resistant S. aureus strains.


DESIGN
Cross-sectional study.


SETTING
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Muhimbili Medical Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania between October 1997 and March 1998.


PATIENTS
Two hundred and sixty patients consisting of 67 neonates, 114 children aged 18 years and below and 79 adults.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Antimicrobial susceptibility to tetracycline, erythromycin, cefuroxime, methicillin and penicillin G and presence of mec A gene.


RESULTS
Among the S. aureus strains, 97.3%, 68.1%, 37.3% and 6.5% were sensitive to cefuroxime, erythromycin, tetracycline and penicillin G respectively. Only one (0.4%) S. aureus isolate was resistant to methicillin using both the E test and presence of mec A gene. There was no significant difference between the sensitive S. aureus isolates from the neonates, children and adults.


CONCLUSION
S. aureus strains are becoming more resistant to commonly used antimicrobial agents, the prevalence of methicillin resistant S. aureus strains in our study population is low compared with reported studies.