New phage type among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus associated with a local outbreak in Belgium during 2002

• Published in: Clinical microbiology and infection Vol. 12; no. 10; pp. 1036 - 1038
• Main Authors: Wildemauwe, C., Godard, C., Joseph, R., Ryck, R. De, Deplano, A., Damée, S., Bossuyt, E. Van, Vanhoof, R., Struelens, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2006; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Blackwell
• Subjects: Aminoglycoside resistance; Bacterial diseases; Bacteriophage Typing; Belgium - epidemiology; Biological and medical sciences; clonal types; Disease Outbreaks; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Methicillin Resistance; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; phage types; pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcal infections, streptococcal infections, pneumococcal infections; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus - drug effects; Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification; Staphylococcus aureus - virology; Belgium; Europe; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; Aminoglycoside resistance; clonal types; Staphylococcus aureus; phage types; Epidemic; Infection; Virus; Resistance; Aminoglycoside; Bacteriosis; Bacteria; Micrococcales; Micrococcaceae; Protein synthesis inhibitor; Staphylococcal infection; Phage
• ISSN: 1198-743X; 1469-0691
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-0691.2006.01516.x

In total, 150 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates collected during 2002 from a general Belgian hospital were phage-typed at routine test dilution × 100. The majority (45%) belonged to phage group (J)*, while 10% were classified as a new phage type 29/(42E) / 54/(D11)*. The isolates belonging to this new type carried the aac(6')-aph(2”) and the aph(3') aminoglycoside resistance genes and showed high-level resistance to oxacillin. Molecular typing revealed that they belonged to the multiresistant clonal pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) type D8. PFGE group D, characterised as genotype ST228-MRSA-I, has been present in Belgian hospitals since 1999.