Molecular characterization of hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains in pediatric outbreaks using variable tandem repeat analysis with spa and ClfB typing.
To analyze 67 clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated from pediatric hospital infections, we used multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat DNA sequence-based techniques, targeting the protein A polymorphic X region and the clumping factor B complete R domain. We define a "clfB similarity score" and then compare the double loci analysis of closely related MRSA isolates with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). We found an endemic clone (MLST-ST8, spa-t008, SCCmecIV, ClfB lineage 1) able to originate 3 possible outbreaks and a second clone (MLST-ST152, spa-t355, SCCmecV, ClfB lineage 4) responsible for limited cases of MRSA infections, indicating that the combination of spa and clfB-lineage typing is useful to trace MRSA pediatric outbreaks.
Molecular Medicine, Deparment of Experimental Medicine Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Largo G. Gaslini 5, 16147 Genoa, Italy.
Elisabetta
E
Ugolotti
Roberto
R
Bandettini
Anna
A
Marchese
Laura
L
Gualco
Irene
I
Vanni
Luana
L
Borzi
Eddi
E
Di Marco
Elio
E
Castagnola
Giovanni
G
Melioli
Roberto
R
Biassoni
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013205:Staphylococcal Protein A / Q000235:genetics
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D013205:Staphylococcal Protein A; C434058:clfB protein, Staphylococcus aureus