Multidrug Resistant Staphylococci from Environments of Sub-District Health Promoting-Hospitals in Chiang Rai, Thailand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59796/jcst.V16N4.2026.210Keywords:
antibiotic susceptibility, hospital environments, multidrug resistance, resistance genes, staphylococci, sub-district health promoting-hospitalsAbstract
The presence of multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria in hospital environments poses a major challenge for infection control, given their role as environmental reservoirs. Staphylococcus spp. were the predominant bacteria, accounting for 36.95% of all isolates (126/341), of which 16.67% (21/126) exhibited MDR phenotypes. Accordingly, the present study comprehensively evaluated these 21 MDR isolates to determine their extended antibiotic susceptibility profiles and associated resistance genes. Antibiotic susceptibility was assessed using the disk diffusion method against 12 antibiotics classified into Groups A, B, and C. Polymerase chain reaction was used to detect eight resistance genes: blaZ, mecA1, mecA2, mecC, ermA, ermB, ermC, and aacA-aphD. In group A, all isolates showed resistance to cefoxitin, and high resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, clindamycin (both at 76.19%), and erythromycin (71.43%). The majority (95.24%) of bacteria were methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCoNS), primarily methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (75%) and a small proportion of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (4.76%). Most isolates remained sensitive to group B and C antibiotics, such as linezolid, doxycycline, and vancomycin, with limited resistance to rifampin (9.52%), gentamicin (33.33%), ciprofloxacin and moxifloxacin (9.52% each), and chloramphenicol (4.76%). MDR staphylococci isolates showed a high prevalence of diverse resistance genes. Notably, the blaZ and mecA1 genes were common (each found in 90.48% of isolates), whereas ermA and mecC genes were not detected. The ermC gene was present in all isolates while ermB was rare (4.76%). The mecA2 and aacA-aphD genes were detected only in MRCoNS, each occurring in 61.90% of isolates. These findings reveal distinctive local resistance profiles in resource-limited sub-district health promoting-hospitals and underscore the need for continuous surveillance, targeted antimicrobial stewardship, and rigorous environmental cleaning protocols to control MDR staphylococci in these healthcare settings.
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