Investigation of inducible clindamycin resistance in methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains

Clindamycin is one of the important alternative antibiotics in the therapy of Staphylococcus aureus infections. The limited treatment options for MRSA, increaes the importance of the right antibiotic. The major problem of the use of clindamycin for such infections is the presence of inducible clindamycin resistance that can lead to treatment failure. The aim of this study was to investigate the inducible clindamycin resistance of 86 MRSA strains isolated from Research Hospital of Ataturk University. Inducible clindamiycin resistance was detected using D zone test method according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) instructions. Twenty of the strains exhibited the iMLSB, 8 exhibited the cMLSB and 22 exhibited the MS phenotype. The D zone test, which can be done by using erythromycin and clindamycin discs, is a simple disc diffusion test for detection MLSB phenotype and clinical laboratories should report in vitro inducible clindamycin resistance in all S. aureus isolates.