Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: need for constant surveillance,stringent control and vigorous treatment measures.

Staphylococcus aureus has shown a disconcerting propensity to develop resistance to antimicrobial agents and an increasing proportion of these have become resistant to methicillin as well. Regular surveillance should be carried out in every hospital and stringent infection control measures and vigorous treatment should be employed to prevent the nosocomial spread of MRSA. A total of 1056 MRSA were isolated from various specimens received in bacteriology division of SKIMS Srinagar out of which 46.32% were from inpatients and 31.87% from outpatients. None of these strains showed resistance to vancomycin and a good proportion were sensitive to amikacin (80.75%) gentamicin (69%) or ciprofloxacin (63.25%).