SCCmec is a mobile genetic element that carries the gene (mecA) mediating methicillin resistance in staphylococci. For Staphylococcus aureus, four SCCmec types have been described, one (type IV) of which has been associated with newly identified community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus. However, the distribution of SCCmec types among S. epidermidis is not known. SCCmec typing of a col...

Historically, a number of typing methods have been evaluated for Staphylococcus aureus strain characterization. The emergence of contemporary strains of community-associated S. aureus, and the ensuing epidemic with a predominant strain type (USA300), necessitates re-evaluation of the discriminatory power of these typing methods for discerning molecular epidemiology and transmission dynamics, es...

conclusions our results show the presence of clonal groups of enterotoxin-producing mrsa strains in this hospital in tehran. the presence of bacteriophage encoded virulence factors and resistance to oxacillin enable bacteria to produce a broad spectrum range of diseases. results out of the 279 s. aureus isolates, 91 (32.6%) strains were confirmed as mrsa. totally, 6 enterotoxin and 2 virulence ...

In this study, genotyping techniques including staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and restriction-modification tests were used to compare the molecular characteristics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates recovered at two times within a 10-year interval (1998 and 2008) from...

We performed a blinded study to compare repetitive-sequence PCR and multilocus sequence typing for genotyping hospital- and community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The MRSA strains that were sequence type 8 (ST8), staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) type IV, and Panton-Valentine leukocidin-positive clustered separately from those that were ST5 and SCCm...

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of SmaI macrofragments and hybridization of ClaI digests with the mecA- and Tn554-specific DNA probes were used to define the endemic clones of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among strains collected in 1993 and 1998 to 2000 at the University Hospital of Patras, Patras, Greece. Representatives of each clonal type were analyzed by spaA t...

ST22-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus type IV (ST22-MRSA-IV) is endemic in Irish hospitals and is designated antibiogram-resistogram type-pulsed-field group (AR-PFG) 06-01. Isolates of this highly clonal strain exhibit limited numbers of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns and spa types. This study investigated whether combining PFGE and spa typing with DNA sequencing of...

We developed a novel PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism test for the ccrB gene by using HinfI and BsmI for rapid typing of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec). When tested with reference strains and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates, the method proved to be valid and useful for rapid identification of four SCCmec types, especially type IV.

Among 23 patients carrying methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in their anterior nares, 6 (26%) also carried methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) as less prevalent flora. In 4 of the 6 patients, the MSSA was unrelated to prevalent MRSA, as determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and staphylococcal protein A (spa) typing. Howev...