Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 21, No. 2, 2016 11413 Romanian Biotechnological Letters Vol. 21, No. 2, 2016 Copyright © 2016 University of Bucharest Printed in Romania. All rights reserved ORIGINAL PAPER Staphylococcus sp. Involvement in Community Acquired Urinary Tract Infections Received for publication, January 12, 2015 Accepted, September 03, 2015 VIOLETA-CORINA CRISTEA 1,2,3,* , IRINA GHEORGHE 4,* , GABRIELA NEACȘU 2 , RAMONA GÂLCĂ 2 , ILDA CZOBOR 4 , IONELA ALEXANDRU 4,5 , MARIANA CARMEN CHIFIRIUC 4,5 , VERONICA LAZĂR 4,5 , MIRCEA IOAN POPA 3 1. "CERO-Career profile: Romanian Researcher" Project POSDRU/159/1.5/S/135760; 2. Central Reference Laboratory Synevo, Bucharest, Romania; 3. University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Bucharest, Romania; 4. Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Romania; 5. Research Institute of the University of Bucharest, Romania (ICUB), Life, Environment and Earth Sciences Section, Bucharest, Romania; *Corresponding authors address: violeta.cristea@synevo.ro; iryna_84@yahoo.com Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of Staphylococcus species to the etiology of community acquired urinary tract infections (UTI) in Romanian population, and to investigate their antibiotic resistance profiles. 6,250 urine samples were collected between August - October 2014 by Synevo Laboratory (Bucharest), out of which the overall isolation rate of Staphylococcus spp. was 2.68% (n = 50). S. saprophyticus was the most frequent isolated species, being susceptible to methicillin but 28% exhibited an efflux-mediated macrolides resistance phenotype. S. aureus was the second most commonly isolated, exhibiting combined MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) (encoded by SSCmec type III and IVa gene cassettes) and inducible resistance to macrolide, lincosamide, streptogramin B (MLSBi) phenotypes. The S. haemolyticus and S. lugdunensis strains were isolated with a lower frequency (2 strains each) and one S. lugdunensis strain harboured SSCmec type III cassette. Our results highlight differences in the etiology of community acquired UTI from those reported in other geographical areas, proving the necessity of knowing the local etiology and resistance markers in order to design appropriate empirical therapy regimens and to monitor the antimicrobial resistance emergence and spread in community. Key words: Staphylococcus sp., urinary tract infection, MRSA, MLSBi 1. Introduction Currently, the antibiotic treatment of UTI is a challenge due to the increasing level of antimicrobial resistance in uropathogenic strains. In order to control the emergence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance is important to determine the etiology and resistance markers in community acquired UTI. Besides Escherichia coli and other Enterobacteriaceae that are usually responsible for UTI’s in community, there are only few literature studies concerning the incidence and the resistance profiles of the staphylococcal species implicated in community- acquired UTI (NETO & al [1], GONZÁLEZ-DOMÍNGUEZ & al [2]). Usually, S. saprophyticus is the most common coagulase negative staphylococci causative agent in the immunocompetent host (RAZ & al [3], BECKER & al [4]). Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the incidence and resistance profiles of Staphylococcus spp. strains isolated from ambulatory urinary tract infections in a Romanian population from the SE region of the country.