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Multiplex PCR Assay for Typing of Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome Mec Types I to V in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Published on: September 5, 2013
Classifying spa types in complexes improves interpretation of typing results for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
Werner Ruppitsch1, Alexander Indra, Anna Stöger
1Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Spargelfeldstrasse 191, A-1226 Vienna, Austria. werner.ruppitsch@ages.at
Abstract:
A total of 382 isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus originating from three Austrian regions and one adjacent Italian region (Vienna, Lower Austria, North Tyrol, and South Tyrol) were typed by DNA sequence analysis of the variable repeat region of the protein A gene (spa typing). The strain collection consisted of arbitrarily chosen isolates originating from clinical specimens taken in the years 2003 to 2005 at 17 hospitals. The most common spa types found were t001 (28.8% of all isolates), t190 (27.0%), t008 (14.1%), and t041 (11.3%). The 42 remaining spa types accounted for
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