engleski

A variant of the Southern German clone of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is predominant in Croatia.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), isolated from ambulatory and hospitalized patients in 24 healthcare facilities in 20 cities in Croatia from October to December 2004. A total of 1, 815 consecutive S. aureus strains were isolated, 248 of which were MRSA, a MRSA prevalence of 13.7%. The MRSA strains were investigated using PFGE, spa typing and SCCmec typing. Furthermore, the presence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) was determined, as a genetic marker for community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA). It was observed that the Southern Germany clone was predominant in Croatia. Furthermore, various other endemic MRSA clones were observed, such as the Berlin, the UK EMRSA-3, the Brazilian/Hungarian, the New York/Japan, the UK EMRSA-2/-6, and the Pediatric clone. Four PVL-positive MRSA strains were observed, associated with ST6-MRSA-IV (USA300), ST80-MRSA-IV (European CA-MRSA), and ST80-MRSA-I. It remains to be seen if the minor MRSA clones observed during the present study will find a niche in the Croatian population to replace the Southern Germany clone on a large scale. Therefore, future studies are needed to conduct epidemiological surveillance of MRSA in Croatia.

Croatia; MRSA; PVL; SCCmec; spa typing

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