Changes in major populations of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Belgium

A total of 102 epidemic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates collected in 13 Belgian hospitals during two periods (1981-1985 and 1991-1992) were tested for phage-type, for the presence of aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes (AME), and examined by arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR). All isolates, but five, belonged to a few distinct phage-types of group III. Most isolates expressed a combination of AAC(6')-APH(2") with APH(3')III, and ANT(4',4") or both. Both phage-typing and AME suggested a change in the MRSA population between the two periods but the AP-PCR method revealed only slight differences.