Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in eight African hospitals and Malta.

C. Kesah (1) , S. Ben Redjeb (2) , T. O. Odugbemi (1) , C. S.-B. Boye (3) , M. Dosso (4) , J. O. Ndinya Achola (5) , S. Koulla-Shiro (6) , M. Benbachir (7) , K. Rahal (8) , M. Borg (9)

1 Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, College of Medicine
2 Hôpital Charles Nicolle [Tunis]
3 Institut Pasteur de Côte d'Ivoire
4 CHU Le Dantec
5 UoN - University of Nairobi
6 University of Yaoundé [Cameroun]
7 CHU Ibn Rochd
8 Institut Pasteur d'Algérie
9 St Luke's Hospital

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) poses a serious therapeutic problem worldwide, and its frequency in most African countries has not been reported. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility patterns of MRSA in eight large hospitals (>500 beds) in Africa and Malta, from 1996 to 1997. Susceptibility to methicillin (oxacillin) and to other drugs was determined by E test (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden) on a total of 1440 clinical isolates of S. aureus. Methicillin resistance was detected in 213 (15%) of the 1440 isolates tested. The rate of MRSA was relatively high in Nigeria, Kenya, and Cameroon (21-30%), and below 10% in Tunisia, Malta, and Algeria. All MRSA isolates were sensitive to vancomycin, with MICs 60%) of MRSA strains were multiresistant. There is a need to maintain surveillance and control of MRSA infections in Africa.

Keywords: MRSA; susceptibility; Africa

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Bacteriology

C. Kesah, S. Ben Redjeb, T. O. Odugbemi, C. S.-B. Boye, M. Dosso, et al.. Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in eight African hospitals and Malta.. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 2003, 9 (2), pp.153-6. ⟨10.1046/j.1469-0691.2003.00531.x⟩. ⟨pasteur-00762462⟩