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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2005, p. 5445-5451, Vol. 43, No. 11
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.11.5445-5451.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Molecular Evolution of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the Metropolitan Area of Cologne, Germany, from 1984 to 1998

Hilmar Wisplinghoff, Birgitta Ewertz, Susanne Wisplinghoff, Danuta Stefanik, Georg Plum, Francoise Perdreau-Remington,{dagger} and Harald Seifert*

Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Received 30 March 2005/ Returned for modification 8 June 2005/ Accepted 9 August 2005

To investigate the molecular evolution of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a large metropolitan area in Germany, 398 nonrepetitive MRSA isolates recovered from patients from various teaching and nonteaching hospitals in Cologne between 1984 and 1998 were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). On this basis, 95 representative isolates were selected and further investigated by multilocus sequence typing (MLST), spa typing, and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing. Overall, there were 9 MLST types and 16 spa types. The most prevalent sequence types (STs) were ST239 (38% of isolates), ST247 (29%), and ST228 (18%); the most prevalent spa types were 37 (32%) and 51 (29%). ST239 comprised five major PFGE types and various unique PFGE patterns, and ST5 comprised two PFGE types. While the same PFGE pattern was not observed among strains with different STs, spa type 37 was observed among strains representing two different STs (ST239 and ST241), and these belonged to the same clonal complex as single-locus variants. ST239 was the earliest predominant ST, with the highest prevalence from 1984 to 1988 (96%), followed by ST247 from 1989 to 1993 (83%) and ST228 from 1994 to 1998 (40%). Spa type 37 was the most prevalent from 1984 to 1988 (96%), spa type 51 was the most prevalent from 1989 to 1993 (83%), and spa types 1 and 458 were the most prevalent from 1994 to 1998 (26% and 14%, respectively). The prevalence of SCCmec type III decreased from 96% from 1984 to 1988 to 8% from 1989 to 1993, the prevalence of SCCmec type I increased from 4% from 1984 to 1988 to 97% from 1989 to 1993 and decreased to 62% from 1994 to 1998. While the genetic diversity of MRSA increased from 1984 to 1998, one prevalent ST usually accounted for most of the isolates in a given time period.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne, Goldenfelsstr. 19-21, 50935 Cologne, Germany. Phone: 0049 221 478 3009. Fax: 0049 221 478 3979. E-mail: harald.seifert{at}uni-koeln.de.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, Calif.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2005, p. 5445-5451, Vol. 43, No. 11
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.11.5445-5451.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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