A total of 412 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated between October 2006 and June 2009, representing a mixed hospital- and community-associated patient population from Mumbai, India, were evaluated. MRSA was characterized by multiplex PCR amplification of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) gene and the mecA gene, staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) ...

Staphylococcus saprophyticus is a uropathogenic bacterium that causes acute uncomplicated urinary tract infections, particularly in female outpatients. We investigated the dissemination and antimicrobial susceptibilities of 101 S. saprophyticus isolates from the genitourinary tracts of patients in Japan. Eight of these isolates were mecA positive and showed beta-lactam resistance. Pulsed-field ...

SCCmec is a mobile genetic element that carries the gene (mecA) mediating methicillin resistance in staphylococci. For Staphylococcus aureus, four SCCmec types have been described, one (type IV) of which has been associated with newly identified community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus. However, the distribution of SCCmec types among S. epidermidis is not known. SCCmec typing of a col...

BACKGROUND Many SCCmec elements of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) could not be typed using multiplex PCR. Such a 'non-typable' SCCmec was encountered in a Staphylococcus cohnii isolate. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The SCCmec type of methicillin-resistant S. cohnii clinical isolate WC28 could not be assigned using multiplex PCR. Newly-designed primers were used to amplify ccrA and ...

Typing of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is important in infection control and surveillance. The current nomenclature of MRSA includes the genetic background of the S. aureus strain determined by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) or equivalent methods like spa typing and typing of the mobile genetic element staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec), which carries the m...

BACKGROUND The mecA gene, encoding methicillin resistance in staphylococci, is located on a mobile genetic element called Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec (SCCmec). Horizontal, interspecies transfer of this element could be an important factor in the dissemination of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Previously, we reported the isolation of a closely related methicillin-susceptible ...

Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing, in combination with genotyping of the Staphylococcus aureus chromosome, has become essential for defining methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) clones in epidemiological studies. We have developed a convenient system for SCCmec type assignment. The system consists of six multiplex PCRs (M-PCRs) for identifying the ccr gene complex (ccr), ...

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) typing is an important epidemiologic tool for monitoring trends and preventing outbreaks. However, the efficiency of various MRSA typing methods for each SCCmec MRSA isolate is rarely evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 157 MRSA isolates from four different regions in Taiwan were typed with five different molecular ...

Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec element (SCCmec) type-dependent clinical outcomes may vary due to geographical variation in the presence of virulence determinants. We compared the microbiological factors and mortality attributed to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia between SCCmec types II/III and type IV. All episodes of MRSA bacteremia in a tertiary-care hosp...

In this study, genotyping techniques including staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and restriction-modification tests were used to compare the molecular characteristics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates recovered at two times within a 10-year interval (1998 and 2008) from...