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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2002, p. 1427-1435, Vol. 40, No. 4
0095-1137/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.40.4.1427-1435.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of a Novel Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Epidemic Clone in Córdoba, Argentina, Involved in Nosocomial Infections

Claudia Sola,¹ Germán Gribaudo,¹ Córdoba MRSA Collaborative Study Group, Ana Vindel,² Luis Patrito,¹ and José Luis Bocco^1*

Departamento de Bioquímica Clinica, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Ciudad Universitaria, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina,¹ Nosocomial Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Madrid, Spain²

Received 2 October 2001/ Returned for modification 13 November 2001/ Accepted 22 January 2002

Infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are increasingly a main health concern worldwide for hospitalized patients. In addition, the prevalence of community-acquired infection has risen continuously during the last few years. Some MRSA clones spread easier than others within the hospital environment and therefore are frequently implicated in outbreaks. Thus, the spread of a unique epidemic multiresistant clone, the so-called South American clone, is the main cause of nosocomial infections produced by this bacterium in Brazil and in some regions of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. In the present work we describe the identification of a novel clone of MRSA that is involved in nosocomial infections and that shows a prevalence as high as that for the South American clone. A total of 53 consecutive single-patient MRSA isolates were recovered during a 3-month period (May to July 1999) from six different hospitals (955 beds) in Córdoba. The isolates were initially typed according the antibiotic resistance and phage susceptibility patterns, followed by genotyping using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). PFGE analysis of the 53 MRSA isolates revealed six major types (A to F) and 25 subtypes. The B-type DNA pattern was indistinguishable from that of the South American epidemic clone observed in 34% of the isolates. A novel highly prevalent clone, showing the A-type DNA pattern and representing 38% of the isolates, was also identified. Moreover, the most frequent subtype of the A clonal family triggered an outbreak in a hospital 2 months later, further confirming its epidemic feature.

Córdoba MRSA Collaborative Study Group: Aida Monterisi and Marta Rocchi (Hospital Nacional de Clínicas), Mario Vilaro and María E. Bongiovanni (Hospital Privado de Córdoba), Ricardo Lamberghini (Clínica Privada del Diagnóstico SANAGEC), Elda Diaz and José Gonzalez (Hospital Militar de Córdoba), Olga Perlo-Morales and Carlos Bergallo (Hospital Córdoba), and María S. Aiassa and Ernesto Jacob (Hospital Italiano de Córdoba).

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