Contamination of inducible clindamycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus on the mobile phone of a Thai pharmacy university student: A case report

Abstract

The antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from mobile phones (MPs) of university students was previously reported. However, few studies demonstrated an inducible clindamycin-resistant (ICR) strain. This study aimed to present the first case report of ICR and other antibiotic-resistant patterns of S. aureus isolated from the MP of a Thai male pharmacy university student. Isolated S. aureus from the MP of a 22-year-old Thai male pharmacy university student was taken to perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing using Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method with cefoxitin (30 g), clindamycin (2 g), erythromycin (15 g), penicillin (10 g), gentamicin (10 g), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (1.25/23.75 g), ciprofloxacin (5 g), linezolid (30 g) and tetracycline (30 g). Additionally, D-zone test was investigated by placing the 15 mm of edge-to-edge between clindamycin and erythromycin disks. Resultswere interpreted by following the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. We found that this isolate was resistant to erythromycin, tetracycline, and penicillin but susceptible to cefoxitin, clindamycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, and linezolid. Moreover, the flattening zone (D-shape) around clindamycin, particularly toward the erythromycin side, was observed, which indicated ICR S. aureus. Our findings emphasize the feasibility of persistent antibiotic-resistant including ICR (iMLSB genotype) S. aureus contamination in the MP of a university student. These may pave away for the awareness of using communication devices. Moreover, good personal hygiene and the use of proper MP cleaning procedures need to be announced to the user to reduce this phenomenon.