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Subcutaneous Infection of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)
Published on: February 9, 2011
Genetic analysis of Staphylococcus aureus from intravenous drug user lesions
Alastair B Monk1, Sally Curtis1, John Paul1
1Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK 2Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Eastern Road, Brighton BN2 5BE, UK.
Abstract:
Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of 48 methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus isolates from intravenous drug user abscesses/soft-tissue infections revealed 12 sequence types (STs) belonging to eight genetically distinct lineages. Only two novel STs were recovered (one isolate of each), indicating that isolates in this study were similar to those from previous studies of disease and carriage. However, ST59, the most common genotype recovered (from six individuals), may be adept at causing subcutaneous lesions in this patient population, as it is rare in carriage and disease. PCR detection of 22 toxin genes revealed a high prevalence of the gene for staphylococcal enterotoxin B compared with previous studies, indicating that this toxin may promote infections in this patient group.
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