title: Susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus to fusidic acid: Canadian data.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ongoing antimicrobial surveillance is important to ensure proper management of infectious diseases. There are inherent issues in estimating the relevant incidence of antimicrobial resistance from surveillance data and special issues for topical preparations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To perform semiannual surveillance of fusidic acid susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus strains in a Canadian tertiary care hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  S. aureus strains were collected twice yearly from routine cultures. Routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by an automated method. Fusidic acid susceptibility testing was performed by disk diffusion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between 1999 and 2005, 2,302 S. aureus strains were tested, of which 240 were methicillin resistant (MRSA). Among all strains tested, 65 (2.8%) were resistant to fusidic acid. Ten of the MRSA strains (4.2%) were resistant to fusidic acid. Although from different patients, these were shown to be part of a hospital outbreak and were epidemiologically linked.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There has been no trend toward increasing fusidic acid resistance in our hospital over this period.
authors.affiliation: Medical Microbiology Laboratory, University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, Canada. robertrennie@cha.ab.ca
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Rennie
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002170:Canada; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control; D052978:Disk Diffusion Antimicrobial Tests; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D005672:Fusidic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011159:Population Surveillance; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D005672:Fusidic Acid