A comparative study of antibiotic profile of community acquired and hospital acquired isolates of staphylococcus aureus in a tertiary care hospital, Kashmir

Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus is a virulent pathogen in humans capable of surviving in the hospital environment as a saprophyte and in the human body as a normal commensal. It is a gram positive cocci which is capable of causing serious and life threatening infections like bacteremia and pneumonia with high morbidity and mortality. Presence in the blood increases its chances of metastasis and the risk of fatality. The choice of antibiotic therapy has conventionally relied to a large extent on the susceptibility of the pathogen to methicillin. In our study we intend to analyze the cases of different infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus both from the community and hospital environment with main focus on methicillin resistant strains.

Keywords: Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Methicillin susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), Hospital acquired Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HAMRSA), Community acquired Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CAMRSA), Out-patient department (OPD), In-patient department (IPD).