Quantitative analysis of CA-MRSA conducted in Kuwait

Quantitative analysis has been undertaken of the community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) clones found in Kuwait hospitals.

Using a variety of methods including pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, antibiogram and multilocus sequence typing, the scientists looked at samples from eight hospitals of 135 CA-MRSA isolates.

They conclude that "ST80-SCCmecIV was the most common CA-MRSA clone in Kuwait hospitals presenting new challenges for infection control".

In the samples studied, susceptibility was seen to some treatments, including linezolid, teicoplanin and vancomycin.

However, resistance was detected to cadmium acetate in 82.2 per cent of cases, kanamycin in 62 per cent of CA-MRSA clones studied and fusidic acid in 42.2 per cent of the isolates.

A further seven therapeutics saw resistance rates of less than 40 per cent, including four in single figures.

The quantitative analysis was conducted by a team at Kuwait University and published in the Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials, which welcomes findings relating to infectious diseases and their treatment.