New phage type among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus associated with a local outbreak in Belgium during 2002.
In total, 150 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates collected during 2002 from a general Belgian hospital were phage-typed at routine test dilution x 100. The majority (45%) belonged to phage group (J)*, while 10% were classified as a new phage type 29/(42E)/54/(D11)*. The isolates belonging to this new type carried the aac(6')-aph(2'') and the aph(3') aminoglycoside resistance genes and showed high-level resistance to oxacillin. Molecular typing revealed that they belonged to the multiresistant clonal pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) type D8. PFGE group D, characterised as genotype ST228-MRSA-I, has been present in Belgian hospitals since 1999.
Wildemauwe
C
C
National Phage Typing Reference Centre, Pasteur Institute, Brussels, Belgium. cwildemauwe@pasteur.be
Godard
C
C
Joseph
R
R
De Ryck
R
R
Deplano
A
A
Damée
S
S
Van Bossuyt
E
E
Vanhoof
R
R
Struelens
M
M
D001434:Bacteriophage Typing; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000821:virology*