Community-acquired meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Palestine.
Community-acquired meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is becoming an important public-health problem. This study attempted to investigate S. aureus and MRSA colonization in nasal swabs obtained from 843 patients without a history of hospitalization at the time of hospital admission and from 72 health-care workers chosen for comparison. Of the patients, S. aureus was detected in 218/843 (25.9%) and MRSA in 17/843 (2.0%). Of the health-care workers, S. aureus was detected in 15/72 (20.8%) and MRSA in 10/72 (13.9%). The majority of the 27 MRSA isolates exhibited a sensitivity pattern expected for CA-MRSA. Multilocus restriction fragment typing resolved the isolates into eight restriction fragment types. The predominant restriction fragment types were AAACCAA and AAAAAAA, accounting for 51.9% (14/27) of the MRSA isolates and included CC5 and CC1 groups, respectively. This study thus demonstrated the transmission of CA-MRSA strain types into a health-care setting, emphasizing the need for implementation of a revised set of control measures in both hospital and community settings.
Master Program in Clinical Laboratory Science (MCLS), Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestine.
Maha H
MH
Kaibni
Master Program in Clinical Laboratory Science (MCLS), Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestine.
Mohammad A
MA
Farraj
Department of Biology and Biotechnology, An-Najah N. University, Nablus, Palestine.
Kamel
K
Adwan
Master Program in Clinical Laboratory Science (MCLS), Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestine.
Tamer A
TA
Essawi
D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics*; D008877:Middle East / Q000453:epidemiology; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics*; D018440:beta-Lactam Resistance / Q000235:genetics