Changing Pattern of Antibiotic Resistance in Methicillin-ResistantStaphylococcus aureusFrom German Hospitals
- 1 November 2001
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology
- Vol. 22 (11), 683-686
- https://doi.org/10.1086/501845
Abstract
Objective: : To investigate the background of changes of resistance phenotypes in methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) from nosocomial infections in German hospitals by molecular typing and identification of particular resistance genes.Methods: : Isolates from the network for monitoring the spread of MRSA in Germany were subjected to quantitative susceptibility testing, to molecular typing, and to polymerase chain reaction identification of resistance genes.Participants: : The network consists of 175 German clinical microbiological laboratories collaborating with the German Reference Center for Staphylococci, which performs typing of staphylococcal isolates from nosocomial infections and data analysis.Results: : During the past 5 years, MRSA susceptible to other antibiotics such as oxytetracycline, erythromycin, and gentamicin became more frequent. The proportion of epidemic MRSA clones that had been disseminated in the past and that exhibited broad resistance phenotypes decreased, whereas the proportion of recently emerging MRSA carrying only a few other resistance determinants has increased (1994, 11.5%; 1998, 39%).Conclusions: : The changing pattern of resistance phenotypes of MRSA from nosocomial infections in Germany is mainly due to the spread of recently emerging epidemic strains that are less frequently resistant to antibacterials other than oxacillin. The observed changes cannot simply be attributed to overall antibiotic consumption.Keywords
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