title: Outbreak of linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus haemolyticus in an Italian intensive care unit.
abstract: We report an outbreak of linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus haemolyticus strains (MIC 32 mg/L) in patients admitted to the Verona University Hospital Intensive Care Unit. The strains proved to be clonally related at pulsed field gel electrophoresis. All the strains showed the G2576T mutation responsible for linezolid-resistance and retained their resistance even after several passages on antibiotic-free medium. After a decade of linezolid use, multifocal emergence of linezolid resistance in coagulase-negative staphylococci has become an important matter of concern and mandates stricter control over the use of this antibiotic in order to preserve its clinical utility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Diagnostics, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie, 8, 37134, Verona, Italy. annarita.mazzariol@univr.it
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mazzariol
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lo Cascio
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kocsis
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Maccacaro
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fontana
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cornaglia
mesh_terms: D000081:Acetamides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D000069349:Linezolid; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D058889:Molecular Typing; D023303:Oxazolidinones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017354:Point Mutation; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D041162:Staphylococcus haemolyticus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D000081:Acetamides; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D023303:Oxazolidinones; D000069349:Linezolid