Tetracycline and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole at clinical laboratory: can they help to characterize Staphylococcus aureus carrying different SCCmec types?

INTRODUCTION Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can be difficult to detect at the clinical practice. METHODS We analyzed 140 MRSA isolates from inpatients to correlate the antimicrobial susceptibility with the SCCmec types. RESULTS Type III (n = 63) isolates were more resistant to ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, cloramphenicol, erythromycin, gentamicin, and rifampin than type IV (n = 65) ones (p < 0.05). Moreover, type IV isolates were susceptible to tetracycline (100%) and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (98%), while type III isolates presented resistance to them. CONCLUSIONS In regions where these SCCmec types are prevalent, the detection of specific resistant phenotypes could help to predict them, mainly when there are no technical conditions to SCCmec typing.