Clonal types and multidrug resistance patterns of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) recovered in Italy during the 1990s.
A large number (272) of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates recovered from Italian hospitals during the early and late 1990s were characterized for multidrug resistance pattern and clonal type using a combination of genotyping methods, including pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), spaA typing, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), determination of SCC mec type, and hybridization pattern with Tn 554. The majority of MRSA belonged to four genetic lineages: the pandemic Iberian and Brazilian clones, and two unique clonal types-the "Italian" and "Rome" clones of MRSA. The Italian clone carried the SCC mec type I in the genetic background of ST228, which is a double-locus variant of the sequence type of the multidrug-resistant New York/Japanese clone (ST5). The properties of the Rome clone showed several striking similarities to those of the Archaic clone of MRSA that was dominant among MRSA isolates in the mid-1960s to 1970s, but has not been detected since then in recent global surveillance studies.
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Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB/UNL), Oeiras, Portugal.
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Stefani
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Crisóstomo
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Santagati
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Sanches
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de Lencastre
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D018432:Drug Resistance, Multiple / Q000235:genetics*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D016106:Methicillin Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004269:DNA, Bacterial