Susceptibility of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus to Minocycline and Other Antimicrobials

The incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is on the rise, especially in nosocomial and intravenous-drug-abuse-related infections, with a concomitant increase in morbidity, mortality and health care costs. At present the drug of choice, vancomycin, which must be administered intravenously, is expensive and can cause serious side effects in vancomycin-intolerant patients. Recently, minocycline has received much attention as an antibiotic to combat the increasing frequency of MRSA-related infections. We tested 102 recent clinical isolates of MRSA from tertiary-care patients and found none to be resistant to minocycline, with minimum inhibitory concentrations of