Molecular Characterization of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis Clones: Evidence of Geographic Dissemination

Denmark and Iceland are countries where the frequency of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is very low due to strict infection control and restrictive antibiotic use policies. In contrast, methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis (MRSE) continues to be isolated as a nosocomial pathogen. The mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Clinical Microbiology
Main Authors: Miragaia, Maria, Couto, Isabel, Pereira, Sandro F. F., Kristinsson, Karl G., Westh, Henrik, Jarløv, Jens O., Carriço, João, Almeida, Jonas, Santos-Sanches, Ilda, de Lencastre, Hermínia
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: American Society for Microbiology 2002
Subjects:
Epidemiology
Uruguay
Iceland
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC153385
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11825953
https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.40.2.430-438.2002
Description
Summary:Denmark and Iceland are countries where the frequency of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is very low due to strict infection control and restrictive antibiotic use policies. In contrast, methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis (MRSE) continues to be isolated as a nosocomial pathogen. The molecular typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of 136 MRSE isolates from five hospitals in Denmark and 94 MRSE isolates from one hospital in Iceland collected in 1997 and 1998 defined 40 different patterns. Closely related PFGE types were found in isolates recovered in Iceland, Denmark, Mexico, Uruguay, Greece, and Cape Verde, evidencing for the first time the geographic clonal dissemination of MRSE strains. The large majority (87.4%) of the MRSE isolates studied were multiresistant.

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