MRSA is of serious concern in health care settings as the organism is not only resistant to methicillin but also to many other antimicrobials used for treatment. This study has been carried to determine the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of MRSA isolated from patient samples and health care workers. A prospective analytical study carried out on 450clinical samples from patients and 100 nasal swab from health care workers in tertiary care hospital, Puducherry. All Staphylococcus aureus isolates identified by conventional phenotypic methods were screened for methicillin resistance by Cefoxitin disc diffusion test. Out of 450 pus samples, 90(20%) were Staphylococcus aureus, of which, 30(33.3%) were methicillin resistant. Out of 100 nasal swab screened from health care workers, 18(18%) were Staphylococcus aureus, of which 5(27.8%) were methicillin resistant. All the MRSA isolates were found to be 100% sensitive to vancomycin, teicoplanin and linezolid. Treatment of multi drug resistant MRSA is still problematic because of limited choice of antibiotic and the option of drug for empirical therapy for staphylococcal infections depends on susceptibility data for the local geographic area.

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