Prevalence and Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aurous Isolated from Pharmacy Students, Tripoli-Libya

الملخص

A total of 200 nasal swaps were collected from 200 female pharmacy students who participated in this study. 156 of 200 (78%)
participants were found to be colonized with multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial strains and 44 of 200 (22%) participants were
colonized with drug-sensitive bacterial strains. Of 156 positive specimens, 83 (53.2%) specimens contained only one type of
bacteria, while 73 (46.8%) specimens yielded more than one bacterial isolate. A total of 229 multidrug-resistant bacterial strains
were isolated from the 156 positive carrier participants, and among these, 153 isolates (67%) were gram-positive bacteria and 76
isolates (33%) were gram-negative bacteria. Regarding the gram-positive bacteria, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus epidermis represent about 49% (113 of 229) and 17% (40 of 229) of the total isolated
strains, respectively. On the other hand, the percentage of gram-negative bacteria identified in this study was distributed in the
following manner; Klebsiella spp 11% (25 of 229), Enterobacter spp 8% (18 of 229), Citrobacter 1% (4 of 229), Serratia spp
0.9% (2 of 229), and Pseudomonas spp 11.7% (27 of 229) of the total isolates.
All Staphylococcus spp isolates that represent 67% (153 of 229) of the total isolates, exhibited Methicillin Resistant activity and,
thereafter, were classified as Community Associated-Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) and Community
Associated-Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus epidermis (CA-MRSE). Besides, almost all confirmed isolates exhibited 100%
resistance rates to Augmentin, Clindamycin, and Rifampin. The only effective antibiotics in this study against the isolates were
Imipenem and Ciprofloxacin (100% susceptibility for both).