Tetracycline and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole at clinical laboratory: Can they help to characterize staphylococcus aureus carrying different SCCmec types?

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can be difficult to detect at the clinical practice. Methods: We analyzed 140 MRSA isolates from inpatients to correlate the antimicrobial susceptibility with the SCCmec types. Results: Type III (n = 63) isolates were more resistant to ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, cloramphenicol, erythromycin, gentamicin, and rifampin than type IV (n = 65) ones (p > 0.05). Moreover, type IV isolates were susceptible to tetracycline (100%) and trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole (98%), while type III isolates presented resistance to them. Conclusions: In regions where these SCCmec types are prevalent, the detection of specific resistant phenotypes could help to predict them, mainly when there are no technical conditions to SCCmec typing.