METHICILLIN-CIPROFLOXACIN CO-RESISTANCE IN STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS FROM ASYMPTOMATIC NASAL CARRIER Atif A. Patoli  , Bushra B. Patoli  , Dileep Kumar   Institute of Microbiology, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan  Department of Pathology, Bhittai Medical and Dental College, Mirpurkhas ARTICLE INFORMATION Article History: Received: 10 th August 2018 Accepted: : 18 Th October 2018 Published online: 22 nd February, 2019 Author’s contribution AAP design the experiment BBP analysis the experiment DK compiled the data. Key words: S. aureus, Community, Hospital, Nasal Carriers, Ciprofloxacin, Methicillin ABSTRACT The current study was aimed to evaluate the co-existence of methicillin and ciprofloxacin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) isolated from the nares of asymptomatic healthy volunteers. Two hundred and seven (207) nasal swab samples were collected from participants belonging to, Community Associated and Hospital Associated environment and processed for the isolation of S. aureus using conventional identification technique. S. aureus was isolated from a total of 56 samples. 32 of these were from Male volunteers while 24 were from Female volunteers. The isolates were assessed for their antibiotic resistance potential against ciprofloxacin and methicillin using conventional Kirbey-baur disk diffusion test. 59% (n=33) of these showed resistance against methicillin while 26.7 % (n=15) were identified as ciprofloxacin resistant strains. About 21.2% of the Methicillin Resistant Strains displayed the co-resistance against ciprofloxacin. Categorically almost similar co-resistance was seen in case of isolates from both genders (i.e. Male: 21%, Female: 21.4%). None of the S. aureus strains isolated from community associated population showed co-resistance while co-resistance frequency among S. aureus isolated from hospital associated population was found to be 22.5%. The S. aureus isolated from the volunteers who consume tobacco products showed 63% reduced co-resistance than the S. aureus isolated from the volunteers who do not consume the tobacco products. Co-existence of ciprofloxacin and methicillin resistance was found comparatively higher (23.5%) in the isolates recovered from volunteers having ages below or equal to 25 years of age. 1. INTRODUCTION S. aureus being common inhabitants of various body sites [1], is most prevalent in anterior nares. In- effect the nares are known to be the principal reservoir for these organisms [2]. It has been established that nasal carriage of S. aureus poses a high risk of acquiring an infection with this pathogen [3-5]. Studies report that S. aureus are disseminated from the nares via hands [6] to other body sites where infections can occur [7]. Corresponding Author: atifpatoli@gmail.com Copyright 2017 University of Sindh Journal of Animal Sciences S. aureus is known as universal pathogen and causes a wide variety of diseases in humans as well as animals, affecting public health and the livestock industry[8,9]. S. aureus is one of the major causes of mastitis in lactating cows, sheep and goats [10]. The development of bacterial resistance against antibiotics is a global problem. At present the known pathogenic bacterial species display antibiotic resistance to at least one available antibiotic. The co- existence of resistance against more than one group of antibiotics is now a common phenomenon and a matter of extensive concern [11]. In Pakistan the S. aureus resistance against methicillin was first Vol. 2, Issue 3, Pp: (48-54), October, 2018 48