Prevalence and genetic relatedness of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Israel

Abstract

The aims of the study presented here were to determine the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus carriage and, specifically, community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) carriage in children and their parents in Israel and to determine the genetic relatedness of these isolates. S. aureus was isolated from 580 of 3,373 (17.2%) individuals screened. The predominant type identified by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was strain ST45-MSSA (25%). Five MRSA isolates were detected, and two of these were classified as CA-MRSA, based on the following criteria: no previous contact with a healthcare facility, absence of a multidrug-resistant (MDR) phenotype, and presence of SCCmec type IV. Isolates were negative for pvl and were classified as ST-45-MRSA. Although CA-MRSA is still rare in Israel, the genetic relatedness of the strains found in this study to a successful MSSA clone warrants close follow up.

Molecular features of heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from bacteremic patients

“…Only 5.2% of the S. aureus isolates in this investigation contained the PVL gene, supporting the findings of another study that the prevalence of community MRSA and carriage of the PVL gene among S. aureus isolates in Israel is low [21]. The low prevalence of the PVL gene in our isolates may be due to the impact of geography on the genetic make-up of S. aureus .…”

Carriage of Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a Cohort of Infants in Southern Israel: Risk Factors and Molecular Features

“…The prevalence of MRSA carriage in Jewish infants in our study during the first year of life ranged from 0 to 0.66%. Previous studies reported lower prevalences of MRSA (0.15% to 0.11%) in children attending outpatient clinics in Jerusalem (39) and central Israel (36), respectively. Molecular features were studied only in the latter study (36), and only 2 of the 5 MRSA isolates (3 were isolated from adults) harbored SCCmec type IV and were identified as ST45, as was found for 3 infants in our study.…”

“…A recent study reported a low prevalence of MRSA carriage (0.11%) in children attending outpatient clinics in central Israel (36). One of the earliest CA-MRSA outbreaks reported in the literature occurred in 1997 among 20 patients in a facility for adults with developmental disabilities in southern Israel (4).…”

Prevalence and clonality of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the Atlantic Azores islands: predominance of SCCmec types IV, V and VI

“…The Berlin MRSA clone (ST45-IVa), first observed in Berlin hospitals in 1993, is currently spread in some European countries [8, 42], showing a high epidemic potential not only in the hospital environment but also in the community [43, 44]. This clone was found in a single MRSA isolate in the Azores island collection.…”