ABSTRACT
To investigate antibacterial resistance patterns and genetic relatedness of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus [MRSA] obtained at the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Bahrain. A total of 53 consecutive MRSA isolates obtained from 53 patients were studied using antibacterial resistance patterns, coagulase gene polymorphism, staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec [SCCmec] typing and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis [PFGE]. There was a high prevalence of resistance to fusidic acid [92.5%], ciprofloxacin [92.5%], erythromycin [90.6%], tetracycline [88.7%], trimethoprim [88.7%], streptomycin [88.7%], kanamycin [83.0%] and gentamicin [73.6%]. Coagulase gene typing divided the isolates into five coagulase types comprising coagulase type 36 [86.7%], type 20 [3.8%], type 16 [3.8%], type 38 [1.9%] and type 384 [3.8%]. They belonged to SCCmec type III [86.7%] and SCCmec type IV [13.3%]. PFGE identified five pulsotypes [types A-E] with PFGE type A and its subtypes comprising 83% of the isolates. PFGE type A isolates were multiresistant and had the SCCmec type Ill and coagulase type 36 genotype. The SCCmec type IV isolates were nonmultiresistant with different genetic backgrounds. The study identified two types of MRSA in the hospital during the study period. One type consisted of a persistent multiresistant PFGE clone with the SCCmec type Ill and coagulase type 36 genotypes. The second type consisted of nonmultiresistant isolates that belonged to different genetic backgrounds and were isolated less frequently