SCCMEC GENOTYPING OF METICILLIN-RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS (MRSA) IN NASAL CARRIERS OF HEALTH WORKERS

Lama Doya*, Haissam Yazigi and Youssef Zreik

ABSTRACT

Nasal colonization with meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in normal, asymptomatic individuals constitutes a high percentage. MRSA strains are divided into hospital-associated MRSA(HA-MRSA), which is associated with increased treatment duration and health care costs, and is associated with Sccmec types (I, II, III), and community-associated MRSA(CA-MRSA), which is commonly associated with Sccmec types IV, V. We conducted a study to determine the frequency of nasal carrying of MRSA among health care workers in the intensive care unit in our hospital and to determine the frequency of different Sccmec types in MRSA isolates. Methods: nasal swabs were taken from health workers in the intensive care unit at Tishreen University Hospital, Lattakia, Syria, to investigate the presence of MRSA. The presence of the MecA gene was confirmed by PCR, and the most common Sccmec type was determined by multiplexPCR. Results: Among 60 nasal swabs taken from health personnel worker in the intensive care unit, 24 strains of Staphylococcus aureus were collected. Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was found in 20 samples (83.3%), and this was confirmed by MecA amplification. Sccmec typing of these 20 isolates was performed by multiplex PCR. Type IV was the most common type, with a frequency of 75% (15/20), followed by type I, with frequency of 15% (3/20); type V,I with a frequency of 5% for each one. Conclusion: Our study suggests that an effective control protocol should be adopted to prevent the transmission of MRSA strains from health care workers to hospitalized patients.

Keywords: MRSA, Health care workers, Sccmec IV, MecA, HA-MRSA,CA-MRSA.