Antimicrobial resistance investigation on Staphylococcus strains in a local hospital in Guangzhou, China, 2001-2010.

A retrospective study was conducted on 1,739 Staphylococcus isolates from the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University (FAHJU) in Guangzhou during 2001-2010. With the exception of teicoplanin and vancomycin, antimicrobial resistance was commonly observed among the isolates examined, with high resistance rates for β-lactamases (94.0% and 73.7% for penicillin and oxacillin) and resistance percentages for cefoxitin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and tetracycline ranging from 83.9% to 19.4%. Two hundred sixty-three of the 1,739 isolates were subjected to SCCmec typing and 42 to MLST, spaA, and coa typing. ST239-MRSA-III was prevalently identified along with one distinct coa type HIJKL and 2 spaA types (WGKAOMQ-t037 and WGKAQQ-t030). Class 1 integrons were commonly detected (31.6%), although none of the integron-positive MRSA strains had been isolated since 2009. The widespread detection of integron-based antimicrobial resistance determinants may further contribute to the emergence of superbugs.