Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the phage groups of Staphylococcus aureus strains, their prevalence, and resistance of different phage groups to antibiotics.
Materials and methods: A total of 294 Staphylococcus aureus strains in Kaunas hospitals were obtained; they were phage typed and their resistance to antibiotics was determined. We used the method of routine dilution to test 17 antibiotics against the isolates. Susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus to studied antibiotics was estimated on the basis of National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards according to minimal inhibition concentration of each antibiotic. Staphylococcus aureus strains were phage typed by the international diagnostic set of Staphylococci bacteriophages (Moscow, Russia).
Results: After evaluating the resistance of obtained Staphylococcus aureus strains to oxacillin/methicillin, it was determined that 5.8% of Staphylococcus aureus were resistant to methicillin. Almost all strains (93.75%) of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus were susceptible to the fusidic acid, 18.75%--to ciprofloxacin; 31.25% of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains were susceptible to gentamicin, 37.5%--to doxycycline, and just 6.25%--to erythromycin. The strains of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus are susceptible to many studied antibiotics. The strains of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus are most resistant to penicillin--83.1% and to erythromycin--29.9%. Phage typing revealed that 20.9% of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus and 56.2% of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus were nontypable.
Conclusions: Using the international set of bacteriophages, 79.1% of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus and 43.8% of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains were phage typed. Among the strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, phagotype 77 of phagogroup III was the most common and among the strains of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus--phagotype 3C of phagogroup II.