This is the first assessment of risk factors for colonization with MRSA in an LTCF in Slovenia. MRSA poses a problem in this LTCE Our observations may be valuable in implementing active surveillance cultures in infection control programs in Slovenian LTCFs.

Similar prevalence rates of MRSA colonization have been found in other European countries, but such studies have usually involved residents with better functional status than that of the participants in this study. Nosocomial spread of MRSA occurred in the facility examined, but not frequently. More attention should be focused on the hand hygiene of HCWs.

IntroductionAccording to the existing literature, a heterogeneous sequence type (ST) or clones of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) circulate in Europe. In Europe, the European clone that belongs to sequence type ST80 is predominant.MethodsThe aim of the study was to investigate the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics and epidemiological data of CA-MRSA ST80 and its occurrence in Slovenia. We retrospectively analyzed those CA-MRSA isolates that were isolated during microbiological procedures in microbiological laboratories between 2006 and 2013. Only CA-MRSA isolates from the national collection of CA-MRSA strains that belonged to ST80 (European clone) were analyzed. We determined the Pantone-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), mec A genes, exfoliative toxin genes and type of staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCCmec) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We determined also spa type and sequence type.ResultsST80 was confirmed in only 2 (0.5%) out of 385 CA-MRSA isolates, collected in a national collection of CAMRSA. Both isolates were positive for the PVL genes, mec A gene, exfoliative toxin type D gene and SCCmec IV. One CA-MRSA isolate was confirmed in a wound swab taken from a 47-year-old male, and the second was isolated from blood cultures of a 69-year-old female. No epidemiological connections between them were found.ConclusionsIn Slovenia CA-MRSA infections caused by ST80 are rare. In the future, it is necessary that a surveillance study of CA-MRSA at the national level continues and CA-MRSA be considered as a public health threat.

PVL-positive strains of CA-MRSA have been isolated in Slovenia only rarely. We will continue to monitor strains of MRSA in order to obtain the complete microbiological and epidemiological features.

No abstract