Molecular and phage typing of Staphylococcus aureus harbouring cryptic conjugative plasmids

The spread of antibiotic resistant-bacterial pathogens in a hospital could be due to the spread of a resistant strain or the spread of a resistance plasmid among unrelated strains. In this study the relatedness of Staphylococcus aureus isolates carrying identical cryptic conjugative plasmids was determined by a combination of resistance profiles, plasmid patterns, pulsed field gel electrophoresis of SmaI digested chromosomal DNA and phage typing. Results of the different typing techniques were in agreement to one another and demonstrated that the isolates were of three different types. The results suggested that a cryptic conjugative plasmid had spread to different S. aureus isolates in the hospital. This is an example of plasmid spread as opposed to strain spread.