Incidence of community‐acquired methicillin‐resistant S taphylococcus aureus carrying Pantone‐Valentine leucocidin gene at a referral hospital in U nited A rab E mirates

Community‐acquired methicillin‐resistant S taphylococcus aureus ( CA ‐ MRSA ) is an emerging pathogen in hospitalized patients worldwide. The present study was undertaken to identify CA ‐ MRSA in hospitalized patients in a 350‐bed tertiary care hospital in Sharjah, UAE over a 2‐year period from January 2011 to December 2012. CA ‐ MRSA was defined based on identification within first 48 h of admission in the hospital. Staphylococcal cassette chromosome ( SCC ) mec typing of the CA ‐ MRSA isolates was carried out by multiplex polymerase chain reaction ( PCR ). Detection of PVL and mecA genes was done by PCR using the GenoType ® MRSA test system (Hain Lifescience). Patient's clinical data and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the CA ‐ MRSA isolates were also evaluated. Fifty seven of the 187 MRSA isolates were identified as CA ‐ MRSA . All the CA ‐ MRSA strains in our study belonged to SCC mec IV type and were positive for both PVL and mecA genes. The patients with CA ‐ MRSA infections were young (median age, 32 years) and the majority of infections involved the skin and soft tissue (36%). Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the CA ‐ MRSA isolates showed a better susceptibility profile to the non‐beta‐lactam antimicrobials with the exception of ciprofloxacin having 28% resistance. This study evidently strengthens the recent observation of an increase in CA ‐ MRSA emergence among hospitalized patients in the UAE .