High prevalence of ST121 in community-associated methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus lineages responsible for skin and soft tissue infections in Portuguese children.
In order to evaluate the incidence of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) in Portugal, we analyzed a collection of 38 S. aureus isolates recovered from 30 children attending the pediatric emergency department of a central hospital in Lisbon due to skin and soft tissue infections. Molecular characterization identified seven clonal lineages among the 35 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) isolates, of which the major lineage PFGE A/t159/ST121 included 63% of the isolates. The three MRSA isolates belonged to the Pediatric clone PFGE D/t535/ST5-IV (n = 2) and to the European CA-MRSA clone PFGE G/t044/ST80-IVc (n = 1). All isolates harbored several virulence factors, namely, leukocidins. Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) was produced by isolates from five MSSA lineages and by the ST80 MRSA. Of interest, this is the first reported isolation of CA-MRSA ST80 in Portugal.
Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Oeiras, Portugal.
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Conceição
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Aires-de-Sousa
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Pona
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Brito
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Barradas
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Coelho
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Sardinha
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Sancho
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de Sousa
M do Céu
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Machado
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de Lencastre
D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007956:Leukocidins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D058889:Molecular Typing; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D018461:Soft Tissue Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D013207:Staphylococcal Skin Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis
D007956:Leukocidins; D037521:Virulence Factors