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Molecular characterization of Staphylococcus aureus isolates from skin and soft tissue infections samples and healthy carriers in the Central Slovenia region
Author(s) -
Svent–Kucitasa,
Pirs Mateja,
Kofol Romina,
Blagus Rok,
Smrke Dragica Maja,
Bilban Marjan,
Seme Katja
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
apmis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0903-4641
DOI - 10.1111/apm.12509
Subject(s) - staphylococcus aureus , leukocidin , microbiology and biotechnology , enterotoxin , biology , toxin , multilocus sequence typing , genotype , virology , gene , methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus , bacteria , genetics , escherichia coli
Staphylococcus aureus is among the most important human pathogens. It is associated with different infections and is a major cause of skin and soft tissue infections ( SSTI s). The aim of our study was to compare S. aureus isolates associated with SSTI s with isolates obtained from healthy carriers in the Central Slovenia region in terms of antimicrobial susceptibility, genetic diversity by clonal complex ( CC )/sequence type, spa type, and by toxin gene profiling. In total, 274 S. aureus isolates were collected prospectively by culturing wound samples from 461 SSTI patients and nasal samples from 451 healthy carriers. We have demonstrated high heterogeneity in terms of CC s and spa type in both groups of isolates. The main clone among SSTI strains was Panton–Valentine leukocidin gene ( pvl ) positive CC 121, whereas the main clone among carrier strains was CC 45 carrying a large range of toxin genes. The main spa type in both groups was t091. Pvl was more frequently present in SSTI strains (31.2% SSTI vs 3.6% carrier strains) and staphylococcal enterotoxin C was more frequently present in carrier strains (1.6% SSTI vs 17.0% carrier strains). We have also demonstrated that methicillin‐resistant S. aureus was a rare cause (2.8%) of SSTI s in our region.