Changes in major populations of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Belgium.
A total of 102 epidemic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates collected in 13 Belgian hospitals during two periods (1981-1985 and 1991-1992) were tested for phage-type, for the presence of aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes (AME), and examined by arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR). All isolates, but five, belonged to a few distinct phage-types of group III. Most isolates expressed a combination of AAC(6')-APH(2") with APH(3')III, and ANT(4',4") or both. Both phage-typing and AME suggested a change in the MRSA population between the two periods but the AP-PCR method revealed only slight differences.
Wildemauwe
C
C
Pasteur Institute-Brussels, Belgium.
Godard
C
C
Vanhoof
R
R
Bossuyt
E V
EV
Hannecart-Pokorni
E
E
D000617:Aminoglycosides; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001434:Bacteriophage Typing; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology
D000617:Aminoglycosides; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004269:DNA, Bacterial