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Changing Pattern of Antibiotic Resistance in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus From German Hospitals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Wolfgang Witte*
Affiliation:
Robert Koch Institute, Wernigerode, Germany
Christine Braulke
Affiliation:
Robert Koch Institute, Wernigerode, Germany
Christa Cuny
Affiliation:
Robert Koch Institute, Wernigerode, Germany
Dagmar Heuck
Affiliation:
Robert Koch Institute, Wernigerode, Germany
Michael Kresken
Affiliation:
Antiinfectives Intelligence, Gesellschaft für Klinisch-mikrobiologische Forschung und Kommunikation mbH, Bonn, Germany
*
Robert Koch Institute, Bereich Wernigerode, Postfach, D-38843 Wernigerode, Germany

Abstract

Objective:

To investigate the background of changes of resistance phenotypes in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus 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.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2001

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