Meticillin was introduced in 1959 to treat infections caused by penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. In 1961 there were reports from the UK of S aureus isolates that had acquired resistance to meticillin (meticillin-resistant S aureus, MRSA). Similar MRSA isolates were soon found in other European countries, and later from Japan, Australia, and the USA. Today MRSA is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections, and a serious public-health concern. In this forum, we present different perspectives from across the globe to better understand the complexity of the problem, and examine the challenges that individual countries face in trying to control the spread of MRSA.
Although the HCWs at our medical center have dealt with an extremely high number of CCHF patients during the last decade, the total seropositivity for CCHFV IgG was only 0.53%. This low rate may be a result of high compliance with PPE usage and also regular education programs.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the major causes of nosocomial infections in our hospital. Therefore, we aimed to characterize MRSA isolates phenotypically from patients with nosocomial infections at Cumhuriyet University Hospital between December, 1999, and June, 2001, in Sivas by analysis of antibiotic patterns and genotypically using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and repetitive element sequence-based polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR). Forty-three nosocomial isolates were collected from various wards. All isolates were resistant to penicillin, tetracycline, oxacillin, and gentamicin. By rep-PCR and by separation of SmaI fragments of genomic DNA using PFGE, one major type (eight subtypes with PFGE) was identified among the strains. This clone was found to be different than some clones such as Iberian, Brazilian, and a major clone that was found in another Turkish University Hospital in Ankara. According to our results, there is a major MRSA clone with a potential to spread in our hospital. Infection control measures should be directed toward restricting the further spread of this clone. Therefore, in accordance with these findings, a surveillance culturing program should be established.
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