title: The emergence of mecC methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
abstract: The report of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) encoding a divergent mecA gene in 2011 was highly significant. This homologue, designated mecC, poses diagnostic problems with the potential to be misdiagnosed as methicillin-sensitive S. aureus, with important potential consequences for individual patients and for the surveillance of MRSA. mecC MRSA have now been reported from 13 European countries and have been isolated from 14 different host species, with evidence of a recent increase in Denmark. The emergence of mecC MRSA is a topic of interest to human and veterinary microbiology, and we consider it timely to review here its discovery and subsequent investigation.
authors: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES, UK. Electronic address: gkp27@cam.ac.uk.
authors: Gavin K
authors: GK
authors: Paterson
authors: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES, UK.
authors: Ewan M
authors: EM
authors: Harrison
authors: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES, UK.
authors: Mark A
authors: MA
authors: Holmes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000662:veterinary*
keywords: antibiotic resistance; genome sequencing; mecC; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA); molecular epidemiology; zoonosis