Oxacillin- and quinolone-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Sao Paulo, Brazil: a multicenter molecular epidemiology study

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the possibility of interhospital spread of multiresistant Staphylococcus aureus in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Design: We evaluated 13 nosocomial S aureus strains selected because of resistance to oxacillin and ciprofloxacin.

Setting: The strains were collected between March 1991 and September 1991 from four different hospitals in Sao Paulo. Two were teaching hospitals, and two were private hospitals.

Patients: Each strain was isolated from a different patient. All patients were hospitalized when the strains were isolated.

Interventions: The strains were typed by restriction endonuclease analyses of plasmid DNA (REAP) using EcoRI, HindIII, RsaI, and AluI and by extended antibiogram profile (34 drugs).

Results: All strains had identical plasmid and antibiogram profile. They demonstrated the same plasmid pattern as previously described in one of the hospitals studied.

Conclusions: Our results suggest the dissemination of a unique oxacillin- and quinolone-resistant strain of S aureus in several hospitals of Sao Paulo, Brazil.