Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus from Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) patients in Accra, Ghana.

Introduction: The aims of this study were to: a) determine the nasal carriage prevalence of Stahpylococcus aureus among HIV patients, b) to characterize S. aureus strains isolated.

Methodology: Characterization of S. aureus isolates was done by antibiotyping, spa typing, and detection of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes.

Results: S. aureus isolated (10/124; 8%)  belonged to spa types t084 (n = 3), t10828 (n = 2), t311, t304, t774, t645, and t091. The isolates were resistant to penicillin (100%), tetracycline (40%), rifampicin (10%), fucidic acid (10%), norfloxacin (10%), erythromycin (10%), and sulfamethoxazole trimethoprim (10%). Multidrug resistance (MDR) was detected in 30% of the isolates.

Conclusion: The finding of MDR S. aureus among HIV-positive patients suggests that surveillance of antimicrobial resistant S. aureus among this patient group could be considered as an infection control measure in the hospital.