Comparison of molecular epidemiology of bloodstream methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates between a new and an old hospital in central Taiwan

• Published in: International journal of infectious diseases Vol. 79; pp. 162 - 168
• Main Authors: Lee, Chun-Yi, Fang, Yu-Ping, Chang, Yu-Fen, Wu, Tsung-Hua, Yang, Yu-Ying, Huang, Yhu-Chering
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canada Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2019; Elsevier
• Subjects: Bloodstream infection; Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Sequence type; spa type; Taiwan; Sequence type; Bloodstream infection; Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; spa type; Taiwan
• ISSN: 1201-9712; 1878-3511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2018.12.002

•The methicillin resistance rate of Staphylococcus aureus isolates was comparable in the new and old hospitals.•The molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) differed between the new and old hospitals.•The molecular epidemiology of MRSA in the hospitals changed over time. To compare the molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates between an old, urban hospital and a new, rural hospital over the same time period. The molecular characteristics of 398 MRSA bloodstream isolates collected between 2007 and 2013 from two hospitals in Taiwan were analyzed retrospectively; 202 isolates were from the old hospital and 196 from the new hospital (opened in 2007). The rate of resistance to multiple antibiotics was significantly higher in the old hospital (93%) than in the new hospital (81%) (p<0.001). Genetic community-associated MRSA carrying staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCC) type IV or V accounted for 58% of all MRSA isolates in the new hospital, significantly higher than the rate in the old hospital (p=0.018). The rate of spa t037-SCCmec III MRSA was significantly lower in the new hospital than in the old hospital (p=0.02). A significant decreasing trend in spa t002-SCCmec II MRSA isolates was observed in the old hospital (p=0.006), while the proportion of spa t037-SCCmec III MRSA decreased significantly in the new hospital (41.7% to 26.1%, p=0.022). The rate of multiple antibiotic resistance and the molecular characteristics of MRSA differed significantly between the old and new hospitals and changed over time.