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Longitudinal analysis of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates at a teaching hospital in Taiwan.
- Source :
-
Journal of the Formosan Medical Association = Taiwan yi zhi [J Formos Med Assoc] 1999 Jun; Vol. 98 (6), pp. 426-32. - Publication Year :
- 1999
-
Abstract
- In Taiwan, the frequency of nosocomial infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has increased rapidly during the past 10 years. To investigate the epidemiology of MRSA infections, a total of 140 MRSA isolates collected at National Taiwan University Hospital from 1992 to 1996 were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles and antibiotypes, as determined with the disk diffusion method. Among these isolates, six PFGE types (with 20 subtypes) and six antibiotypes were identified. Antibiotyping proved to be a poor method of epidemiologic analysis, because almost all of the MRSA isolates analyzed shared a very similar multidrug-resistant antibiotype. Most MRSA infections and colonizations in this hospital were due to the spread of strains belonging to three major PFGE types (A, B, and C). However, the major type changed in different years with types A, B, and C being predominant in 1992 through 1993, 1994 through 1995, and 1996, respectively. The three major PFGE types spread easily throughout the hospital wards, presumably carried by health care workers and environmental contamination. Our results demonstrate that there was a dominant strain spreading in our hospital each year and the dominant strain may shift in different years.
- Subjects :
- Bacterial Typing Techniques
Cross Infection microbiology
Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
Humans
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Staphylococcal Infections microbiology
Staphylococcus aureus physiology
Taiwan epidemiology
Cross Infection epidemiology
Methicillin Resistance physiology
Staphylococcal Infections epidemiology
Staphylococcus aureus classification
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0929-6646
- Volume :
- 98
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of the Formosan Medical Association = Taiwan yi zhi
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 10443067