Prevalence of MRSA among surgical site infections caused by staphylococcus aureus

Surgical site infection is still considered a critical health problem despite the development in methods of sterilizing operating rooms and controlling to some extent the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Staphylococcus aureus is considered the leading bacterial type in causing such infections, with a clear progress for MRSA in increasing the spread of these infections in hospitals, especially in developing countries. The aim of the study was detection of the prevalence of MRSA among surgical site infections in two hospitals in Baghdad. Fifty samples of surgical site infections were collected from government hospitals and were diagnosed phenotypically and genetically to investigate the percentage of MRSA out of Staphylococcus aureus infections. The percentage reached 82%, which is considered somewhat high. The results that caused such a high percentage were explained. It was concluded that there is always a need for continuous monitoring of susceptibility patterns of MRSA and formulation of a definite antibiotic strategy to control this stubborn infection.