Prevalence and genotype distribution of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in India.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a serious human pathogen that can cause a wide variety of infections. Comparative genetic analyses have led to the discovery that despite the existence of a vast number of genotypes, outbreak strains of MRSA appear to be limited to certain genotypes, some of which are further restricted to certain geographical locations. Whereas extensive literature is available in several countries, the complexity of the clonal distribution both of healthcare-associated (HA) and community-associated (CA) MRSA in India is only now beginning to be understood. Studies have revealed that MRSA in India is distributed among all of the major staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) types. The majority of HA-MRSA isolates belong to SCCmec type III and sequence type (ST) 239. By contrast, CA-MRSA mostly belong to ST22 (SCCmec IV), ST772 (SCCmec V) and ST672 (SCCmec V) genotypes. Similar to the global scenario, CA-MRSA is becoming more invasive and transmissible and is increasingly becoming difficult to be differentiated from HA-MRSA. In addition, it is disturbing that some of the HA-MRSA isolates have been reported to be vancomycin-resistant. On the other hand, almost no information is available on the genotypes of livestock-associated MRSA or their potential impact on human infections in India. Concerted efforts are needed to further understand the genetic epidemiology of MRSA in India.
Ella Foundation, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, Hyderabad 500078, India.
Raju
R
Sunagar
Ella Foundation, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, Hyderabad 500078, India. Electronic address: hegden@ellafoundation.org.
Nagendra Ramachandra
NR
Hegde
Department of Microbiology, Gandhi Medical College, N. T. Rama Rao University of Health Sciences, Hyderabad 500029, India.
Ganapuram Jagadishwar
GJ
Archana
Ella Foundation, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, Hyderabad 500078, India.
Akhauri Yash
AY
Sinha
Department of Microbiology, Gandhi Medical College, N. T. Rama Rao University of Health Sciences, Hyderabad 500029, India.
Kammili
K
Nagamani
Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Hebbal, Bengaluru 560024, India.
Shrikrishna
S
Isloor
D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification*; D015995:Prevalence; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology
Clonal distribution; India; MRSA; SCCmec; Sequence type