Identification of a novel methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus epidemic clone in Cordoba, Argentina, involved in nosocomial infections

SOLA C; GRIBAUDO G; VINDEL A; CORDOBA MRSA COLLABORATIVE STUDY GROUP.; PATRITO L; BOCCO JL

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2002 vol. 40 p. 3427 - 3427

0095-1137

nfections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are increasingly a main health concern worldwide for hospitalized patients. In addition, the prevalence of community-acquired infection has risen continuously during the last few years. Some MRSA clones spread easier than others within the hospital environment and therefore are frequently implicated in outbreaks. Thus, the spread of a unique epidemic multiresistant clone, the so-called South American clone, is the main cause of nosocomial infections produced by this bacterium in Brazil and in some regions of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. In the present work we describe the identification of a novel clone of MRSA that is involved in nosocomial infections and that shows a prevalence as high as that for the South American clone. A total of 53 consecutive single-patient MRSA isolates were recovered during a 3-month period (May to July 1999) from six different hospitals (955 beds) in Cordoba. The isolates were initiall