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Abstract Objectives Molecular typing such as spa typing is used to control and prevent Staphylococcus aureus widespread in hospitals and communities. Hence, the aim of this study was to find the most common types of S. aureus strain circulating in Shiraz via spa and SCCmec typing methods. Results Total of 159 S. aureus isolates were collected from two tertiary hospitals in Shiraz. Isolates were identified by biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were performed by standard disk diffusion method and then genetic analysis of bacteria was performed using SCCmec and spa typing. In this study 31.4% of the isolates were methicillin-resistant S. aureus. The majority of isolates were SSCmec type III. Spa type t030 was the most prominent type among MRSA strains. For the first time in Iran, spa003, t386, t1877, t314, t186, t1816, t304, t325, t345 were reported in this study. It was shown that there is a possibility that these spa types are native to this region. Our findings showed that SCCmec II, III and IV disseminate from hospital to community and vice versa. Thus, effective monitoring of MRSA in hospital and community is necessary. more...

Background: Staphylococcus epidermidis is a pathogen associated with nosocomial infections whose medical importance has increased due to progressively invasive medical procedures. In this study, we characterized the molecular epidemiology of S. epidermidis strains circulating in our university hospital situated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Findings: A total of 798 S. epidermidis were isolated from our university hospital, where 56.3% of the isolates were found to be cefoxitin (methicillin) resistant and also positive for the mecA gene. Staphylococcus Cassette Chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing revealed that 39.6% of the methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis (MRSE) were SCCmec-untypeable, with 54.6% harboring the cassette chromosome recombinase C (ccrC) gene. A total of 67 isolates from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) was selected for pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing, where 13 pulsotypes were identified at a cut-off value of 80% similarity. No significant association was found between the PFGE pulsotypes, SCCmec types and antibiotic susceptibilities. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to detect biofilm-associated genes in the ica operon and also 4 staphylococcal toxin genes (cna, seh, PVL genes and tst-1) revealed that only 8.0% isolates had the complete operon, while cna was the most prevalent toxin gene detected amongst the isolates (35.8%). Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first report on the molecular epidemiology of Malaysian S. epidermidis. We found the strains to be low in virulence potential; nevertheless further studies have to be conducted to determine if this phenomenon translates into a better clinical outcome for patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Objectives: Molecular typing such as spa typing is used to control and prevent Staphylococcus aureus widespread in hospitals and communities. Hence, the aim of this study was to find the most common types of S. aureus strain circulating in Shiraz via spa and SCCmec typing methods. Results: Total of 159 S. aureus isolates were collected from two tertiary hospitals in Shiraz. Isolates were identified by biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were performed by standard disk diffusion method and then genetic analysis of bacteria was performed using SCCmec and spa typing. In this study 31.4% of the isolates were methicillin-resistant S. aureus. The majority of isolates were SSCmec type III. Spa type t030 was the most prominent type among MRSA strains. For the first time in Iran, spa003, t386, t1877, t314, t186, t1816, t304, t325, t345 were reported in this study. It was shown that there is a possibility that these spa types are native to this region. Our findings showed that SCCmec II, III and IV disseminate from hospital to community and vice versa. Thus, effective monitoring of MRSA in hospital and community is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...