• A C Gales, R N Jones, M A Pfaller, K A Gordon, and H S Sader.
• Medical Microbiology Division, Department of Pathology, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA. galesa@mail.medicine.uiowa.edu
• Int. J. Infect. Dis. 2000 Jan 1; 4 (2): 75-84.

ObjectivesThis study was conducted to evaluate the frequency of occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial isolates collected from patients with skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) in Latin American hospitals, as part of the SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program. The dissemination of multidrug-resistant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MDR-MRSA) among the Latin American countries also was studied.Material And MethodsA total of 885 bacterial isolates were analyzed. At the monitoring laboratory, antimicrobial susceptibility testing utilizing the reference broth microdilution method and confirmation of species identification were performed. Enterobacteriaceae possibly producing extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) and MDR-MRSA isolates were genotyped by ribotyping using the RiboPrinter and by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.ResultsStaphylococcus aureus (31%) was the most common etiologic agent causing SSTI, followed by Escherichia coli (13.4%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11%). Thirty-one percent of S. aureus isolates were resistant to oxacillin (methicillin). The presence of ESBL phenotypes was markedly higher among the Klebsiella pneumoniae (35.5%) than E. coli isolates (10. 2%). Meropenem was the compound with the highest susceptibility rate among the Enterobacteriaceae (100%) and P. aeruginosa (95%) isolates. A great genetic similarity was observed among the MDR-MRSA in Latin America.ConclusionHigh resistance rates to antimicrobial drugs among the most frequent bacterial pathogens were observed in 10 medical centers in Latin America. This study also demonstrated a clonal dissemination of a MDR-MRSA strain in several nations.

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