The first Staphylococcus aureus isolates with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin in Poland.

The first heterogeneously vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (hVISA) isolates to be identified in Poland were characterized. They were recovered in two Warsaw hospitals and, although in one of these the identification coincided with unsuccessful glycopeptide therapy, the selection conditions and clinical significance of the organisms remain unclear. Molecular typing revealed that the isolates were closely related and belonged to an international methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) clone known as 'Iberian'. The analysis of epidemiologically related MRSA isolates and some archival Polish MRSA isolates of the same clone indicated that the hVISA phenotype has been present in the MRSA populations of some hospitals in Poland since at least 1998.