High prevalence of ST121 in community-associated methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus lineages responsible for skin and soft tissue infections in Portuguese children

• Published in: European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 2011-02, Vol.30 (2), p.293-297
• Main Authors: Conceição, T, Aires-de-Sousa, M, Pona, N, Brito, M. J, Barradas, C, Coelho, R, Sardinha, T, Sancho, L, de Sousa, G, do Céu Machado, M, de Lencastre, H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bacterial diseases; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brief Report; Child; Child, Preschool; Cloning; Community-Acquired Infections - epidemiology; Community-Acquired Infections - microbiology; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Emergency medical care; Genotype; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Internal Medicine; Leukocidins - biosynthesis; Medical Microbiology; Medical sciences; Molecular Typing; Pediatrics; Portugal - epidemiology; Prevalence; Soft Tissue Infections - epidemiology; Soft Tissue Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcal infections, streptococcal infections, pneumococcal infections; Staphylococcal Skin Infections - epidemiology; Staphylococcal Skin Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus - classification; Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification; Staphylococcus infections; Virulence; Virulence Factors - biosynthesis
• ISSN: 0934-9723; 1435-4373
• DOI: 10.1007/s10096-010-1087-8

In order to evaluate the incidence of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) in Portugal, we analyzed a collection of 38 S. aureus isolates recovered from 30 children attending the pediatric emergency department of a central hospital in Lisbon due to skin and soft tissue infections. Molecular characterization identified seven clonal lineages among the 35 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) isolates, of which the major lineage PFGE A/t159/ST121 included 63% of the isolates. The three MRSA isolates belonged to the Pediatric clone PFGE D/t535/ST5-IV (n = 2) and to the European CA-MRSA clone PFGE G/t044/ST80-IVc (n = 1). All isolates harbored several virulence factors, namely, leukocidins. Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) was produced by isolates from five MSSA lineages and by the ST80 MRSA. Of interest, this is the first reported isolation of CA-MRSA ST80 in Portugal.