Strain diversity and antibiotic-sensitivity of staphylococcus spp. Isolates from patients of multiprofile pediatric hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia

Abstract

Background. Staphylocci are the leading pus-forming Gram-positive bacteria in the childrens hospitals. The prevalence of the antibiotic resistant strains among them limits therapeutic effects of infections in children. Aim. The research is aimed at characterizing the species of staphylococcus, which are isolated from the different clinical specimens of the patients at the clinics of Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University in 2019, and analysis of their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. Materials and metods. According to the clinical recommendations of 2018, susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs (AMD) was revealed in 860 strains of staphylococci determined by the disc diffusion method, which were identified by the automated analyser Vitek-2 compact. Results. Six species of staphylococci were represented at the hospital departments, among which Staphylococcus epidermidis prevailed in the departments of the neonate pathology department and intensive care units (63.0% and 46.2% respectively), Staphylococcus aureus is commonly found at the departments of surgery and the departments of the therapeutic profiles (61.7% and 46.2% respectively). More than a half of the staphylococci strains (63.0%) were resistant to at least one of the antimicrobial drugs. Vancomycin and line solid showed the highest activity to these staphylococci. High specific weight of multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria (37.8%) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) strains of the phenotype (33.0%) was revealed. The level of antibiotic resistant strains was the highest in Staphylococcus haemolyticus (98.1%) and S. epidermidis (82.0%), while the specific weight of the resistant ones, MDR and XDR strains was extremely low among S. aureus (16.2%, 1.5% and 0.4 respectively), as well as in methicillin-resistant isolates (0.8%). Conclusions. A great variety of antibiotic resistance was revealed among the staphylococci. The prevalence of these strains in the pediatric hospitals requires constant local monitoring of the antibiotic resistant staphylococci.