@article{mbs:/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.011452-0, author = "Shittu, Adebayo and Nübel, Ulrich and Udo, Edet and Lin, Johnson and Gaogakwe, Sedio", title = "Characterization of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal province, Republic of South Africa", journal= "Journal of Medical Microbiology", year = "2009", volume = "58", number = "9", pages = "1219-1226", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.011452-0", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.011452-0", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1473-5644", type = "Journal Article", keywords = "MLST, multilocus sequence typing", keywords = "CA, community-associated", keywords = "MRSA, meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus", keywords = "PVL, Panton–Valentine leukocidin", keywords = "KZN, KwaZulu-Natal", abstract = "Epidemiological data based on phenotypic and molecular characterization of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in sub-Saharan Africa are limited. This investigation studied 61 MRSA isolates obtained from 13 health-care institutions in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, South Africa, from March 2001 to August 2003. More than 80 % of the isolates were resistant to at least four classes of antibiotics and six isolates were resistant to the aminoglycoside, macrolide-lincosamide and tetracycline groups of antibiotics, heavy metals and nucleic acid-binding compounds. PFGE of SmaI-digested genomic DNA revealed seven types, designated A–G. Type A was the main pulsotype (62.3 %) and was identified in 11 of the 13 health-care institutions, suggesting that it represented a major clone in health-care institutions in KZN province. Analysis of representative members of the three major pulsotypes by spa, multilocus sequence typing and SCCmec typing revealed the types t064-ST1173-SCCmec IV and t064-ST1338-SCCmec IV (PFGE type A, single-locus and double-locus variants of ST8), t037-ST239-SCCmec III (PFGE type F) and t045-ST5-SCCmec III (PFGE type G). The combination of various typing methods provided useful information on the geographical dissemination of MRSA clones in health-care institutions in KZN province. The observation of major clones circulating in health-care facilities in KZN province indicates that adequate infection control measures are urgently needed.", }