A new approach to establishing the set of phages for typing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
A new approach to using experimental phages for typing methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) non-sensitive to the phages of International Basic Set (IBS) is described. The collection Includes phage 85, modified on a culture of MRSA, and 5 phages induced from MRSA strains isolated in clinics of Moscow in 1975-76. Firstly, the modified phage selects cultures according to the specific character of its restriction-modification system, then the induced phages differentiate the selected strains into 5 groups (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) based on the specificity of the prophages they contain. Group 1 strains can further be differentiated into 5 subgroups (A, B, C, D, E) by additional phages. Forty-one MRSA strains isolated in 1987-90 in various hospitals of Moscow showing no sensitivity to IBS phages, were lysed by the modified phage, 15 of them belonging to Group 2 and isolated in the traumatological hospital, 26 belonging to Group 1 and were circulating in the burn center. Twenty-three strains of Group 1 appertain to subgroup 1B and were isolated over a 4-year period from the burned surface of patients and from the throat of a medical staff carrier.
Akatov
A K
AK
Laboratory of Staphylococcal Infections, Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Moscow, USSR.
Zueva
V S
VS
Dmitrenko
O A
OA
D001434:Bacteriophage Typing / Q000379:methods*; D004586:Electrophoresis; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D013204:Staphylococcus Phages; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects