frequency of inducible clindamycin resistance in staphylococcus haemolyticus isolated from surgical wounds infections using d-test and molecular methods in al-basrah, iraq

Aims: s. haemolyticus is generally considered an opportunistic pathogen that is strongly associated with immunocompromised individuals. s. haemolyticus is ranked as a highly antibiotic-resistant pathogen for various types of antibiotics. current study aimed to investigate the frequency of inducible clindamycin resistance in s. haemolyticus isolated from surgical wounds infections using d-test and molecular methods in al-basrah, iraq.materials & methods: 200 surgical wound swabs were collected from ports general hospital in basrah, iraq. the coagulase-negative staphylococcal strains were identified using methods like oxidase, catalase, hemolysis, and coagulase tests and confirmed by vitek®2 system. methicillin resistance and inducible clindamycin resistance were detected according to disk diffusion method based on clsi guidelines. moreover, molecular approaches was performed to confirm methicillin and inducible clindamycin resistance results.findings: out of 200 cases, 75 surgical wound swabs (37.5%) showed positive bacterial cultures. the highest frequency of isolates belonged to pseudomonas aeruginosa (25.3%), staphylococcus epidermidis (17.3%), staphylococcus aureus (14.7%) and escherichia coli (13.3%), respectively. out of eight s. haemolyticus isolates, only 5 isolates (62.5%) showed inhibitory resistance criteria for both oxacillin and cefoxitin. furthermore, 3 s. haemolyticus isolates (37.5%) were erythromycin-resistant and clindamycin sensitive with d-test positive with imlsb resistance phenotype. while 2 isolates (25.0%) showed cmlsb resistance phenotype and 3 (37.5%) isolates were shown msb resistance phenotypes. the most frequent resistance genes of s. haemolyticus strains were meca (62.5%), erma (62.5%), ermb (50.0%), respectively.conclusion: d-test and molecular technique are appropriate for detection of inducible clindamycin resistance in s. haemolyticus strains.