Data from: Biofilm-associated multidrug-resistant and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infections in children

Introduction: The ability of Staphylococcus
aureus to form biofilms—architectural complexes that cause
chronic and recalcitrant infections—along with its notorious variant,
methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), leads to
multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections that are challenging to treat with
antibiotics. This cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence of S.
aureus infections in children (<17 years) and characterized the
antibiograms of MDR, MRSA, and biofilm-forming strains, along with their
coexistence. Methods: S. aureus strains were isolated
and identified from clinical samples and tested for antibiograms following
standard microbiology guidelines. MDR strains were non-susceptible to at
least one agent in three antimicrobial categories, whereas MRSA strains
were cefoxitin-resistant. The gold-standard microtiter plate method was
used to detect biofilms. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS
version 17.0. Results: S. aureus was detected in 9.02%
of 543 samples, primarily from pus (79.59%, 39/49). Children aged 1 to
<3 years most commonly contracted infections (30.61%, 15/49), and
males (67.35%, 33/49) had twice as many infections as females (32.65%,
16/49). As high as 84.69% (83/98) of strains were penicillin-resistant,
while 18.37% (27/147) were aminoglycoside-resistant. MDR accounted for
79.59% (39/49) of all S. aureus infections, while MRSA
and biofilm-formers accounted for 67.35% (33/49) and 24.49% (12/49),
respectively. Fluoroquinolone resistance in
non-(MDR-MRSA-biofilm-formers), MDR-MRSA, MDR-biofilm-formers, and
MRSA-biofilm-formers was 31.25%, 46.77%, 58.33%, and 60%, respectively,
while aminoglycoside resistance was 0%, 32.26%, 50.0%, and 45.0%, and
penicillin resistance was 87.50%, 85.48%, 100.0%, and 100.0%.
Conclusion: S. aureus, mostly MDR and MRSA, caused four-fifths of
infections in children. Compared to MDR-MRSA and
non-(MDR-MRSA-biofilm-formers), MDR-biofilm-formers and
MRSA-biofilm-formers triggered higher levels of antimicrobial resistance.