Vancomycin Resistance among Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from Clinical Samples in Erbil City, Iraq

Objective: To determine the prevalence of VRSA among patients attending Erbil Teaching Hospital and their resistance to community used antibiotics.
Materials and methods: Cultural studies using different cultures and biochemical tests were done to ensure the identity of species under study. Susceptibility of the isolates for the antibiotics test were done using discs of twenty two different antibiotic discs including (Carbenicillin (CAR), Vancomycin (VA), Clindamycin (DA), Methicillin (MY), Cephalothin (KF), Pipercillin (PRL), Nitrofurantoin (F), Cephalexin (CL), Rifampicin (RA), Gentamycin (G), Chloramphenicol (C), Trimethoprim–Sulphamethaxazole (SXT), Ceftazidime (CAZ), Polymyxin B (PB), Amoxicillin–Clavulanic acid (AMC), Doxycycline (DO), Amikacin (AK), Oxacillin (OX), Ciprofloxacin (CIP), Cefixime (CFM), Cefoperazone (CEP) and Neomycin (NEO).
Results: The results show that resistance for the antibiotics ranged from 26.31% to 98.61% for DA and MY consecutively. 78.94% of those demonstrated resistance to MY have also found resist to VA antibiotic. Thus, the current study concludes that some strains of S. aureus isolates acquired genes that are able to resist those antibiotics.
Conclusions: In conclusion, the results of the current study showed an increase of Vancomycin resistance among MRSA and excessive use of antimicrobial agents have worsened the sensitivity, which call for further epidemiological studies