Prevalence of Genotypes That Determine Resistance of Staphylococci to Macrolides and Lincosamides in Serbia

Macrolides, lincosamides, and streptogramins (MLS) resistance genes are responsible for resistance to these antibiotics in infections. The purpose of the study was to analyze the distribution of the MLS resistance genes in community- and hospital-acquired isolates. The MLS resistance phenotypes [constitutive resistance to macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (cMLSb), inducible resistance to macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (iMLSb), resistance to macrolide/macrolide-streptogramin B (M/MSb), and resistance to lincosamide-streptogramin A/streptogramin B (LSa/b)] were determined by double-disc diffusion method. The presence of the MLS resistance genes ( A, B, C, A/B, A, B, and A) were determined by end-point polymerase chain reaction in 179 isolates of staphylococci collected during 1-year period at the Center for Microbiology of Public Health Institute in Vranje. The most frequent MLS phenotype among staphylococcal isolates, both community-acquired and hospital-acquired, was iMLSb (33.4%). The second most frequent was M/MSb (17.6%) with statistically significantly higher number of hospital-acquired staphylococcal isolates (