High-Level Mupirocin Resistance in Staphylococcus spp. among Health Care Workers in a Tertiary Care Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus is very common among health care workers, and treatment with mupirocin is one of the choicest antibiotics available. But with the rampant usage of mupirocin like other antibiotics, the emergence of mupirocin resistance is also on rise. This resistance is both low level as well as high level among the isolated strains.

AIM: To screen for the high-level mupirocin resistance among the isolated Staphylococcus strains by Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 200 clinical isolates were tested for high level mupirocin resistance by disk diffusion method using Himedia disks.

RESULTS: Among the 200 nasal swabs, 26 (13%) showed growth of S. aureus, whereas 174 (87%) showed the growth of coagulase negative staphylococcus (CONS) spp. Mupirocin resistance was observed only among CONS spp, which was 15% for low-level mupirocin and 8% for high-level mupirocin resistance. No mupirocin resistance was observed among the Staphylococcus spp.

CONCLUSION: The identification of Mupirocin resistance will guide us to utilize the antibiotic in a judicious way to treat the nasal carriage effectively.