Abstract

In 1880, Staphylococcus aureus was first discovered by a surgeon named Sir Clifton Smithin pus from surgical abscesses in Aberdeen, Scotland. Methicillin, as the first beta-lactamase resistant penicillin, was used to treat S. aureus infection in 1961. The first methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was identified in the United Kingdom in the same year. It appeared in the United States in 1981 among intravenous drug users. MRSA is an important agent of hospital-acquired infection. Two hundred patients who were admitted in the Doon valley hospitals were screened for nasal colonization of MRSA. Morphological and biochemical identification was also done. Out of 200 nasal samples, 97 S. aureus were recovered. Crome agar was used in order to detect MRSA, only 23 S. aureus were recovered out of total 97 isolates. Antibiotic susceptibility was tested by using the disk diffusion technique on Mueller-Hinton agar. A total of 12 antibiotics were used. Our study reveal the presence of MRSA in the Doon valley hospitals this might also be prevalent in other parts of India as antibiotic misuse is equally common there. This will help in treating this problem in referral hospitals.

Key words: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Doon valley, prevalence, antibiotics.