Genomic and Epidemiological Evidence of a Dominant Panton-Valentine Leucocidin-Positive Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Lineage in Sri Lanka and Presence Among Isolates From the United Kingdom and Australia

Conclusions: We present the most detailed genomic analysis of MRSA isolated in Sri Lanka to date. The analysis identified a PVL-positive ST5-MRSA-IVc that is prevalent among MRSA causing clinical infections in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, this clone was also found among isolates from the United Kingdom and Australia. Introduction Worldwide, Staphylococcus aureus is the primary causative agent of community-acquired skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) and is an important cause of hospital-associated invasive infections including bacteremia, pneumonia and endocarditis (Bell et al., 2002; David and Daum, 2010). Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL)-positive Methicillin Resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is a well-documented cause of community-associated SSTI and less commonly, life-threatening infections in immunocompetent populations. Its prevalence is thought to be increasing worldwide and multi drug resistant PVL-MRSA is emerging as a threat, particularly in the Indian subcontinent (Song et al., 2011; Shallcross et al., 2013). In many developed countries, surveillance of MRSA invasive disease, characterization of high risk MRSA clones and the investigation of suspected MRSA outbreaks are achieved through public health tracking and molecular analysis. By comparison, limited data exist on MRSA infections in low and middle-income countries. A recent report has suggested Sri Lankan hospitals have the highest prevalence of MRSA for all Asian hospitals that were included in the study (Son...
Source: Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research