National surveillance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Belgian hospitals indicates rapid diversification of epidemic clones.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains (n = 455) collected in 2001 from 100 Belgian hospitals were characterized by molecular typing and by resistance gene distribution to macrolides-lincosamides-streptogramins and to aminoglycoside antibiotics. Rapid diversification of MRSA clones, compared with results of previous surveys, was evidenced by the broad geographic distribution of seven major clones belonging to the pandemic MRSA clonal complexes 5, 8, 22, 30, and 45 by multilocus sequence typing.
Department of Microbiology, Hôpital Erasme, 808, route de Lennik, 1070 Brussels, Belgium. odenis@ulb.ac.be
Olivier
O
Denis
Ariane
A
Deplano
Claire
C
Nonhoff
Raf
R
De Ryck
Ricardo
R
de Mendonça
Sylvianne
S
Rottiers
Raymond
R
Vanhoof
Marc J
MJ
Struelens
D000617:Aminoglycosides / Q000494:pharmacology; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D002999:Clone Cells; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011159:Population Surveillance; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*
D000617:Aminoglycosides; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents