ABSTRACT
Introduction@#The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a challenge in the management of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). @*Objective@#To describe the epidemiology of MRSA SSTIs among admitted patients at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital (USTH).@*Methods @#This was a retrospective study of inpatients with MRSA SSTIs from 2011-2015. MRSA infections were classii ed as community-associated (CA-MRSA) and healthcare-associated (HA-MRSA). Demographic characteristics, clinical proi le, comorbidities, complications, risk factors, antibiotic susceptibility and resistance, treatment used, and clinical outcome were determined.@*Results@#Out of the 331 inpatients with Staphylococcus aureus SSTIs, 211 had MRSA with a prevalence of 63.7%, 80.1% of MRSA were CAMRSA while 19.9% were HA-MRSA. The mean age was 41.58 years with male predominance. The majority presented with abscess (62.9%), on the legs (21.8%). The abscess was signii cantly associated with CA-MRSA while infected wounds, previous hospitalization, and surgery were correlated with HA-MRSA. Growing resistance to ciprol oxacin, tetracycline, macrolides, co-trimoxazole, and clindamycin was noted. A low percentage of resistance to vancomycin and linezolid was observed. Almost all cases improved with appropriate antibiotic therapy and 3.3% mortality@*Conclusion@#More than half of the patients with Staphylococcus aureus SSTIs had MRSA. and were mostly CA-MRSA and males. Abscess on the leg was the common presentation and signii cantly associated with CA-MRSA. Infected wounds, previous hospitalization, and surgery were associated with HA-MRSA. There was high resistance of MRSA to ciprol oxacin and tetracycline while low resistance to vancomycin and linezolid. Almost all improved with appropriate treatment.