SCCmec typing of Staphylococcus haemolyticus clinical isolates

A total number of 65 clinical isolates strains of Staphylococcus haemolyticus were used in this study which were originally obtained from Hospital Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang. These strains were first grown on Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) Agar followed by Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA) to check the purities of isolates. Gram staining and series of biochemical tests for such as catalase test and coagulase test were performed to verify the isolates. From all 65 isolates, 38 were found to strongly resemble the characteristics of S. hemolyticus and were subjected to further study on their susceptibility against cefoxitin, penicillin and oxacilin . Based on disc diffusion method, only 34.2% isolates were resistance towards cefoxitin. Amplification of mecA gene was performed on all the 38 isolates. The results showed that 20 or 52.6% of the isolates were positive mecA gene. From this, 7 or 18.4% of the isolates were resistant to cefoxitin and positive for mecA gene. However, 13 or 34.2 % of the isolates were found to be positive mecA gene although they were sensitive to cefoxitin. All the 20 or 52.6% of mecA positive isolates were further subjected to SCCmec typing.