SCCmec types and pvl gene in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains from children hospitalized in a tertiary care hospital in Mexico.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, SCCmec types, presence of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) gene, and susceptibility to antibiotics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated from hospitalized children.


METHODS
From August 2009 to September 2011, 291 S. aureus strains were isolated from normally sterile body sites, of which 190 (65%) were MRSA. One hundred and two of the MRSA strains were genetically evaluated. SCCmec genotypes were identified by M-PCR and the PVL gene (pvl) by end-point PCR. Resistance to erythromycin, rifampicin, clindamycin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT) was assessed by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method in accordance with the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines of 2012.


RESULTS
Of the 102 strains evaluated, 97 (95%) were SCCmec type II, 5 (5%) were SCCmec type IVa, and all (100%) were pvl-negative. Resistance to erythromycin, clindamycin, rifampicin, and SXT was 97%, 95%, 0%, and 0%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of hospital-acquired MRSA was high. SCCmec type II was predominant and the pvl gene appeared not to play any role in the virulence of the MRSA strains from hospitalized children.
From the 1 Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Occidente, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS).
Eunice Mireya
EM
Borbón-Esquer
Alberto
A
Villaseñor-Sierra
Erika
E
Martínez-López
Juan José
JJ
Jáuregui-Lomeli
Rosa
R
Villaseñor-Martínez
Mariana Del Rocío
Mdel R
Ruiz-Briseño
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002648:Child; D002981:Clindamycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D052978:Disk Diffusion Antimicrobial Tests; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D058889:Molecular Typing; D015995:Prevalence; D012293:Rifampin / Q000494:pharmacology; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D063128:Tertiary Health Care; D015662:Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination / Q000494:pharmacology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D002981:Clindamycin; D004917:Erythromycin; D015662:Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination; D012293:Rifampin
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; hospitalized child; molecular typing