prevalence of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus carrying panton-valentine leukocidin gene in cutaneous infections in the city of isfahan

background:   methicillin-resistant   staphylococcus   aureus  (mrsa)   is  a major cause of nosocomial and community infections that are becoming increasingly difficult to combat, because of emerging resistance to all classes of antibiotics. moreover panton-valentine  leukocidin (pvl) is an important virulence factor in s. aureus and causes white blood cell destruction, necrosis and  accelerated  apoptosis.  the  aim  of  this  study  was  to  determine  the frequency  of  pvl-positive  mrsa  in  cutaneous  infections,  for epidemiological  purposes  and also to determine  antibiotic  resistance  of the isolates. methods: collectively,  56 isolates of s. aureus were obtained from isfahan university of medical sciences affiliated hospitals and confirmed with biochemical tests (coagulase, mannitol fermentation, and dnase). then polymerase  chain  reaction  (pcr)  was  used  to detect  pvl  gene.  coagulase gene was used as internal control. the antibiotic susceptibility of all isolates to methicillin was determined using disk diffusion method. results: out of 56 isolates 14.3% were pvl positive that 37.5% were from abscess  and  62.5%  were  from  wound.  among  all of these  isolates  67.8% were mrsa and also 75% of pvl-positive isolates were mrsa. conclusion : the prevalence of pvl positive mrsa in cutaneous isolates is high. future works are necessary for a more complete understanding of distribution of these virulent isolates in nasal carriers to decrease the risk of infections