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JAC Advance Access originally published online on February 25, 2008
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2008 61(5):1040-1043; doi:10.1093/jac/dkn071
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Original research

High prevalence of resistance to fusidic acid in clinical isolates of Staphylococcus epidermidis

F. McLaws, I. Chopra and A. J. O'Neill*

Antimicrobial Research Centre and Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Received 18 December 2007; returned 16 January 2008; revised 31 January 2008; accepted 31 January 2008

* Corresponding author. Tel: +44-113-343-5600; Fax: +44-113-343-5638; E-mail: a.j.oneill{at}leeds.ac.uk

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and mechanisms of resistance to fusidic acid in clinical isolates of Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Methods: MICs of fusidic acid were determined for S. epidermidis isolates collected from the Leeds General Infirmary and from around Europe. Fusidic acid-resistant isolates were probed for the presence of the horizontally acquired resistance determinants fusB and fusC by a novel multiplex PCR assay. Mutations in the gene encoding the drug target (fusA) were detected by PCR and DNA sequencing. Resistant isolates were subjected to typing using the repeat region of the aap gene.

Results: Of 50 S. epidermidis isolates screened, 23 (46%) exhibited resistance to fusidic acid. The most common resistance determinant was fusB, found in 18 of the 23 isolates. Of the remaining isolates, two harboured fusC and three carried an identical mutation in fusA, leading to the substitution L461K in the target protein, elongation factor G. Molecular typing showed that this collection of isolates was genetically diverse.

Conclusions: This study suggests a high prevalence of resistance to fusidic acid in clinical isolates of S. epidermidis. As in Staphylococcus aureus, resistance to fusidic acid in S. epidermidis is commonly associated with the fusB determinant.

Keywords: coagulase-negative staphylococci , fusA , fusB , fusC


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J. Lannergard, T. Norstrom, and D. Hughes
Genetic Determinants of Resistance to Fusidic Acid among Clinical Bacteremia Isolates of Staphylococcus aureus
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., May 1, 2009; 53(5): 2059 - 2065.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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