Healthcare-associated outbreak of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: role of a cryptic variant of an epidemic clone.

ABSTRACT:

Background

New strains of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may be associated with changes in rates of disease or clinical presentation. Conventional typing techniques may not detect new clonal variants that underlie changes in epidemiology or clinical phenotype.

Aim

To investigate the role of clonal variants of MRSA in an outbreak of MRSA bacteraemia at a hospital in England.

Methods

Bacteraemia isolates of the major UK lineages (EMRSA-15 and -16) from before and after the outbreak were analysed by whole-genome sequencing in the context of epidemiological and clinical data. For comparison, EMRSA-15 and -16 isolates from another hospital in England were sequenced. A clonal variant of EMRSA-16 was identified at the outbreak hospital and a molecular sign

SUBMITTER: Miller RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3924019 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature