New insights: mupirocin resistance among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in southern Indian region

:  Methicillin-resistant (MRSA) remains to be the most concerned pathogen with enhanced multi-drug resistance in clinical set-ups. With an immediate need to control MRSA infection, there is a steep rise in the use of mupirocin as a decolonization regime.:  A total of 65 MRSA samples were analysed in the present study. infection identified by standard conventional phenotypic methods. The antibiotic susceptibility pattern of mupirocin (5 μg/ml) was found using Kirby Bauer’s disc diffusion method and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determined using MIC E-test strips of mupirocin.:  All the bacterial strains presented with MIC value less than 4 μg/ml, 23 isolates falls in the range of 0.05 μg/ml and 0.19 μg/ml, 12 strains MIC ranged between 0.125 and 0.640 μg/ml. However, five MRSA isolates showed no zone against mupirocin E-strip.:  In present study, 92% of isolates were sensitive to mupirocin, this gives hope that mupirocin can be promising in the elimination of MRSA strains, a major concern in clinical practice. Also, the use of 5µg mupirocin discs is economical as compared to mupirocin E-strips, mupirocin discs can be used in a low resourceful clinical setups. However, our study revealed no difference in sensitivity for both the E-strip and disc method.