Antibiotic resistance of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from enteral diets in a public hospital of Minas Gerais

Abstract

Enteral diets constitute an excellent means for microbial growth due to its composition rich in nutrients and its time of exposure to room temperature during application. Among the pathogenic bacteria there is the Staphylococcus aureus that is an opportunist microorganism found in the humans’ mucous membrane (buccal, nasal and oral). Samples of enteral diet after application as well as of the environment used for the preparation of the diets, were collected in a public hospital in Minas Gerais and analyzed for the presence of S. aureus. The contamination by S. aureus was evidenced in 83% of the enteral diet samples. As for the environment, the values found were in conformity with APHA recommendation. The isolated strains were submitted to the evaluation of the resistance to different antibiotics. Resistance was observed for tetracycline (100%), erythromycin (90,9%), chloramphenicol (59,1%), estreptomycin (22,72%), penicillin 18,8%), vancomycin (13,63%), ampicillin (13,63%), amoxilin (9,09%) and gentamicin (4,54%). Due to the versatility in the resistance development to several antibiotics the S. aureus survives in hospital environments and can be diffused among patients.