Interestingly, the majority of CA-MRSA strains that have emerged worldwide carried the lukS-PV and lukF-PV genes encoding Panton Valentine Leukocidine. Characteristic PVL-positive MRSA clones have been disseminated in each district Tariquidar manufacturer or continent. In the United States, the ST8-SCCmecIVa (USA300) clone and ST1-SCCmecIVa (USA400) clone have been predominant. In Europe and some Asian countries, the ST80-type IVa SCCmec and ST59-SCCmecV(5C2&5) clones have been AZD8931 cost predominant, respectively. The lukS-PV and lukF-PV genes are located on bacteriophages. Since the first
report of the PVL phage, the nucleotide sequences of several PVL phages have been reported [16, 20–24]. Three structurally distinct PVL phages belonging to groups 1-3, have been identified to date. We characterized the
MRSA clones disseminated in Tunisian hospitals and the community. In GW3965 research buy this study, we conducted a retrospective analysis of the HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA strains isolated from two Tunisian hospitals between the years of 2004 and 2008. In order to characterize the MRSA strains, several different molecular typing methods were used: mecA gene PCR, SCCmec typing, the carriage of PVL gene and the genotyping using the agr locus typing, spa-typing and Multilocus Sequences Typing (MLST). Furthermore, the nucleotide sequence of the PVL phage carried by one strain was determined. Results Antimicrobial susceptibility The CA-MRSA strains were resistant to gentamicin (7%), kanamycin (89%), amikacin (86%), tobramycin (18%), tetracyclines (75%), ofloxacine (11%), ciprofloxacin (36%), erythromycin (46%), clindamycin (14%) and rifampicin (4%). All strains were susceptible to pristinamycin, vancomycin, teicoplanin, trimethoprime-sulfamethoxazole and chloramphenicol. The HA-MRSA strains were resistant to gentamicin
(38%), kanamycin (90%), amikacin (90%), tobramycin (26%), tetracyclines (88%), ofloxacine (30%), ciprofloxacin (45%), erythromycin (55%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (15%), chloramphenicol (7.5%), clindamycin (18%), rifampicin (32%) and fosfomycine (10%). All strains were sensitive to pristinamycin, vancomycin and mafosfamide teicoplanin. Characteristics of HA-MRSA clones The characteristics of 41 HA-MRSA strains are summarized in Table 1. Twenty-one strains were PVL positive, while 20 strains were PVL negative. All PVL-positive strains belonged to the predicted founder group (FG, formerly called the “clonal complex”) 80 in the MLST genotype (ST80, 20 strains and ST1440, 1 strain). All strains belonged to agr group III, and four spa-types (70, 346, 435, and new) were identified among them. All PVL-positive strains carried the type IVc SCCmec element. In contrast, the PVL-negative clones were very diverse. Eight STs, three agr groups, and more than nine spa types were identified (Table 1). These strains carried SCCmec elements of type I, III, IVc, or were nontypeable (NT).