Resistance to Aminoglycosides of Methicillin-Resistant Strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Originating in the Surgical and Transplantation Wards of the Warsaw Clinical Center—A Retrospective Analysis

Introduction Aminoglycoside resistance (AR) is common in health care-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HA-MRSA). AR is most often associated with the production of antibiotic modifying enzymes: bidomain AAC(6′)-Ie/APH(2″)-Ia acetyltransferase and phosphotransferase, ANT(4′)-Ia nucleotidyltransferase, and APH(3″)-IIIa phosphotransferase. Aim Determination of aminoglycoside sensitivity, presence of genes encoding enzymes, and molecular typing of HA-MRSA strains derived from patients hospitalized in surgical and transplantation wards. Materials and methods Fifty-four HA-MRSA strains, isolated from various materials from patients in the surgical and transplantation wards of Warsaw's clinical hospital, hospitalized between 1991 and 2007. The MIC values of gentamicin-GEN/tobramycin-TOB/amikacin-AK/netilmicin-NET were determined by the E-test (CLSI/EUCAST). Genes mecA/aacA-aphD/aadD/aph(3″)-IIIa were detected using PCR. SCCmec types were determined according to the Oliveira method and the sequence type (ST)/clonal complex (CC) by the MLST method. Results Of the isolates tested, 36 (66.7%) showed resistance to at least one aminoglycoside: TOB (57.4%), GEN (53.7%), AK (55.6%), NET (24.1%). The aacA-aphD gene was present in 29 MRSA-GEN-R (most often in combination with aadD, 15/29 or aph(3″)-IIIa, 10/29); the aacA-aphD gene was the only determinant of resistance in 1 isolate. The AR variants mainly belonged to the CC8 clonal complex (ST239/247/241/254/8) and most frequently contained SCCmec type III (3A) cassettes. Conclusions Resistance to at least one aminoglycoside was present in 66.7% of HA-MRSA and in more than 22% to all of them. The presence of the aacA-aphD gene was sufficient to express the resistance phenotype to GEN/TOB/AK/NET. Resistant isolates were closely related to each other.