Prevalence of S. aureus and/or MRSA in hospitalized patients with diabetic foot and establishment of LAMP methods for rapid detection of the SCCmec gene

Abstract Background Patients with diabetic feet are prone to be infected due to the impaired immune system. However, the prognostic outcome of different microbial infections remains controversial. Identification and rapid screening of the pathogenic microorganisms that pose the greatest threat to the prognosis of patients with diabetic foot infections (DFIs) is critical. Methods Clinical data were statistically analyzed, which were obtained from 522 patients with DFIs, including pathogenic bacterial culture results and treatment outcomes at the last return visit. In addition, a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) detection method was developed to identify the prevalent subtype of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in DFIs patients. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Nanfang Hospital (NFEC-202012-K6) and registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04916457) on June 1, 2021. Results We found that the proportion of patients with infections of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and MRSA was 27.7% (145/522) and 33.7% (49/145), respectively. Additionally, the incidence of osteomyelitis was 46.9% (23/49) and amputation/disability was 40.8% (20/49) in patients with MRSA infection, which were significantly higher compared to patients with other types of bacterial infections such as methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). Notably, we demonstrated that the main prevalent subtype of MRSA in DFIs patients in our hospital was Staphylococcal chromosomal cassettes mec (SCCmec) type II. In addition, it only takes 1.5 h to complete the entire experimental procedure in this LAMP assay, providing high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (77.8%) in hospitalized patients with DFIs. Conclusions We demonstrated there is a very high rate of MRSA isolation in patients with DFIs and revealed that patients infected with MRSA are at a higher risk of developing osteomyelitis, and amputation or disability. Importantly, we have developed a method for quickly screening newly admitted patients for MRSA.