title: Countrywide molecular survey of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains in Poland.
abstract: The present investigation was undertaken to assess the proportion of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains among hospital-acquired isolates and to determine the clones of MRSA currently circulating in Poland by using a number of molecular techniques. Between January and May 2005, methicillin resistance was investigated among a total of 915 S. aureus isolates collected from 39 hospitals. A total of 208 (22.7%) isolates were positive for the mecA gene by PCR. The molecular characterization of MRSA isolates was carried out by the multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat fingerprinting, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, multilocus sequence typing, and staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) typing methods. The Hungarian (PFGE B; ST239, SCCmec type III [ST239-III]), Iberian (ST247-I), and Berlin (ST45-IV) clones were predominant, representing approximately 52.9, 11.5, and 10.0% of the MRSA isolates, respectively. A decline in the proportion of earlier MRSA clones, such as ST5-IV (a Pediatric clone), ST80-IV) (a Mediterranean clone), ST239-III (a Polish and Brazilian clone), and ST30-IV (a southwest Pacific clone) was observed. Additionally, the emergence of an MRSA clone with SCCmec type V, possibly representing a community-acquired strain, was observed in two hospitals during this study.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Quality Control in Microbiology, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Łuczak-Kadłubowska
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sulikowska
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Empel
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piasecka
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Orczykowska
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kozinska
authors.forename: Waleria
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hryniewicz
mesh_terms: D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology