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Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. doi:10.1128/AAC.00804-08
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Molecular Evidence for Spread of Two Major Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clones with a Unique Geographic Distribution in Chinese Hospitals

Department of Clinical Laboratory, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Graduate School, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Department of Infectious Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital of the Bethune Medical College, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People's Republic of China; Department of Clinical Laboratory, Guangzhou First Municipal People's Hospital, Guangzhou, 510180, People's Republic of China

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: wh_bj{at}tom.com.

	Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a serious problem worldwide. To investigate the molecular epidemiology of MRSA isolates in China, a total of 702 MRSA isolates from 18 teaching hospitals in 14 cities between 2005 and 2006 were characterized by antibiogram, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), SCCmec typing, spa typing, and 102 isolates were selected for multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Overall, SCCmec III was the most popular type, which found in 541 isolates (77.1%), followed by SCCmec II (109/702, 15.5%). Twenty-four PFGE types from 395 isolates in 2005 and 18 spa types from 702 isolates were obtained. spa type t030, corresponding to PFEG type A to E, constituted 52.0% (365/702) of all isolates, and presented in 14 cities; spa type t037 with PFGE type F and G, accounting for 25.5% (179/702) of all isolates, was identified in 12 cities. The two spa genotypes belonged to ST239, and carried SCCmec III. spa t002, including PFGE type L to T, took up 16.0% (112/702), belonged to ST5 with SCCmec II, and distributed in 12 cities. The distribution of spa types varied among regions. spa t002 was the most common in Dalian (53.4%), and Shenyang (44.4%); t037 was predominant in Shanghai (74.8%), whereas t030 was the most common in other cities. Two isolates from Guangzhou that harbored SCCmec IVa with ST59 and ST88 were identified as community-associated MRSA. The prevalence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene was 2.3%. The data documented two epidemic major MRSA clones, ST239-MRSA-III and ST5-MRSA- II with a unique geographic distribution across China.