Vancomycin Resistance Among Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Isolated from Clinical Samples in Erbil City-Iraq

Bacterial isolates obtained from different sources of 348 human specimens including burn, wound, urine, and stool from the database of Internal Lab of Teaching Hospital, Irbil-Iraqi Kurdistan region, were collected from May 20, 2012, through January 19, 2013, of which 228 isolates were positive for Staphylococcus aureus. Cultural studies were performed using different cultures and biochemical tests to ensure the identity of species under study. The susceptibility of the isolates for the antibiotics test were done using 22 different antibiotic disks including carbenicillin (CAR), vancomycin (VA), clindamycin (DA), methicillin (MY), cephalothin (KF), pipercillin (PRL), nitrofurantoin (F), cephalexin (CL), rifampicin (RA), gentamycin (G), chloramphenicol (C), trimethoprim – sulfamethoxazole (SXT), ceftazidime (CAZ), polymyxin B (PB), amoxicillin–cluvalinic acid (AMC), doxycycline (DO), amikacin (AK), oxacillin (OX), ciprofloxacin (CIP), cefixime (CFM), cefoperazone (CEP), and neomycin (NEO). The results showed that resistance for the antibiotics ranged from 26.31% to 98.61% for DA and MY, respectively. A total of 78.94% of the isolates that demonstrated resistance to MY were also found to resist VA. Thus, we conclude that some strains of S. aureus isolates acquired genes that are able to resist those antibiotics.