Antibiotic resistance, plasmid content, phage type, and capsule type of Staphylococcus aureus isolates at a children's hospital.

One hundred clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus were obtained from Al-Solimaniah Children's Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The isolates were screened for their antibiotic susceptibility, plasmid profiles, phage types, and capsular polysaccharide types. A total of 29 antibiotic resistance patterns were obtained. Nine plasmids were detected and 18 plasmid profiles were obtained. Thirteen isolates were non-phage-typeable and 14 different phage-typing-patterns were obtained from the other 87 isolates. Thirty eight isolates were capsular polysaccharide type 8 and 56 were capsular polysaccharide type 5; the other 6 isolates were non typeable. According to the above typing criteria, the isolates were divided into 13 groups. Plasmid profiles were found to be superior to phage typing, whereas, phage typing was superior to the antibiogram as a technique for determining similarities and differences among S. aureus hospital isolates.