RESUMEN
Following an outbreak caused by staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) type V methicillin (meticillin)-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a point-prevalence survey of the nasal carriage of staphylococci was conducted in a long-term-care facility in northern Finland in 2004. The focus was directed at methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MR-CNS) and their SCCmec elements. A nasal swab was taken from 76 of the 80 residents 6 months after the onset of the outbreak. Staphylococcal isolates were identified by conventional methods and the GenoType Staphylococcus test, and their SCCmec elements were analyzed. Of the 76 individuals, 24 (32%) carried S. aureus and 67 (88%) CNS in their nostrils. Of the CNS carriers, 41 (61%) had at least one mecA-positive MR-CNS, and two individuals (3%) had both MRSA and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE). Among the 61 MR-CNS isolates identified, 49 (80%) were MRSE. The distribution of the SCCmec types was diverse: 20 (33%) were of type IV, 11 (18%) of type V, 4 (6%) of type I or IA, 3 (4%) of type II, and 23 (38%) of new types (with six different combinations of ccr and other mec genes or only mecA). Both of the individuals with MRSA and MRSE shared SCCmec type V among their isolates. Nasal MR-CNS carriage was common among the residents of this long-term-care facility. A variety of SCCmec types, including many new types, were identified among the MR-CNS strains. The horizontal transfer of SCCmec elements is speculated based on the sharing of SCCmec type V between MRSA and MRSE.
Asunto(s)
Portador Sano/microbiología , Resistencia a la Meticilina , Staphylococcus aureus Resistente a Meticilina/clasificación , Staphylococcus aureus Resistente a Meticilina/aislamiento & purificación , Cavidad Nasal/microbiología , Infecciones Estafilocócicas/microbiología , Staphylococcus epidermidis/aislamiento & purificación , Adulto , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , ADN Bacteriano/genética , Brotes de Enfermedades , Finlandia/epidemiología , Transferencia de Gen Horizontal , Genes Bacterianos , Humanos , Pacientes Internos , Cuidados a Largo Plazo , Staphylococcus aureus Resistente a Meticilina/genética , Persona de Mediana Edad , Infecciones Estafilocócicas/epidemiología , Staphylococcus epidermidis/efectos de los fármacosRESUMEN
Our point-prevalence survey followed an outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a long-term care facility and identified five MRSA strains, of which two possessed an outbreak genotype not encountered previously and three had another profile. All of them possessed SCCmec type V. Six methicillin-sensitive S. aureus strains were genotypically related to the epidemic strains.
