Molecular Typing of Methicillin-sensitive and Methicillin-resistant <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>: What Epidemiologists need to know from Plasmid Analysis to Whole Genome Sequencing.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is an important nosocomial pathogen. The early identification of an outbreak, making use of a rapid, precise and simple methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus typing technique, can lead to prompt and effective precautions that avoid further spread of the infection. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis is considered the gold standard for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus typing and has been recently supported by multilocus sequence typing. SmaI-multiplex polymerase chain reaction typing is a novel polymerase chain reaction -based technique that combines the principles of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, with simplicity of polymerase chain reaction and can be used in many routine clinical laboratories. Whole genome sequencing typing is a second generation sequencing technology and may ultimately replace the traditional molecular typing methods. This review aims to survey existing molecular typing techniques for Staphylococcus aureus and to discuss information for each method in order to aid researchers and clinical professionals in the selection and implementation of an optimal technique.