Increasing Trends of Methicillin Resistant Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus in Neonatal Septicaemia - A Study in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Mysore, South India

Introduction: Neonatal septicaemia is one among the leading causes of neonatal mortality in India. For the last 20 years CoNS has been identified as a major cause of neonatal septicaemia in NICU. Different studies show 70-75% of CoNS as resistant to methicillin. Material and methods: Blood samples from neonatal septicaemia cases during Dec 2007 to Dec 2010 were processed & isolates were identified. CoNS were biotyped & methicillin resistance was detected using cefoxitin 30 µg disk. Results: Of 2256 blood samples from neonatal septicaemia cases, 587(36.98%) were CoNS. Staphylococcus epidermidis 234(39.86%) was the commonest isolate. Methicillin resistance was noted in 286 (48.72%). MRCoNS prevalence during 2008, 2009 & 2010 were 41.57%, 47% and 57.36% respectively. Conclusion: Our study showed increased trends of MR-CoNS in neonatal septicaemia leading to increased usage of vancomycin & other glycopeptides, resulting in emergence of multidrug resistant strains, thus narrowing the treatment options in neonates