Strain-relatedness of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates recovered from patients with repeated infection.
Invasive disease following methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) detection is common, regardless of whether initial detection involves colonization or infection. We assessed the genetic relatedness of isolates obtained > or =2 weeks apart representing either repeated infections or colonization-infection sets to determine if infections are likely to be caused by previously harbored strains. We found that MRSA infection following initial colonization or infection is caused by the same strain in most cases, suggesting that a single successful attempt at decolonization may prevent the majority of later infection.
Huang
Susan S
SS
Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California Irvine School of Medicine, Orange, CA 92868, USA. susan.huang@uci.edu
Diekema
Daniel J
DJ
Warren
David K
DK
Zuccotti
Gianna
G
Winokur
Patricia L
PL
Tendolkar
Shailesh
S
Boyken
Linda
L
Datta
Rupak
R
Jones
Rebecca M
RM
Ward
Melissa A
MA
Aubrey
Tanya
T
Onderdonk
Andrew B
AB
Garcia
Christian
C
Platt
Richard
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016106:Methicillin Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010802:Phylogeny; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification