Background:
Staphylococcus aureus
is a major human pathogen. Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is a virulence factor produced by some strains that causes leukocyte lysis and tissue necrosis. PVL-associated
S. aureus
(PVL-SA) predominantly causes skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs) but can also cause invasive infections such as necrotizing pneumonia. It is carried by both community-associated methicillin susceptible
S. aureus
(CA-MSSA) and methicillin resistant
S. aureus
(CA-MRSA). This study aims to determine the prevalence of PVL-SA among patients seen at an urban Gambian hospital and associated antibiotic resistance.
Methods:
Archived clinical
S. aureus
(70 invasive bacteraemia and 223 non-invasive SSTIs) from 293 patients were retrieved as well as relevant data from clinical records where available. Antibiotic susceptibility was assessed using disc diffusion according to Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Genomic DNA was extracted and the presence of lukF and lukS PVL genes was detected by conventional gel-based PCR.
Result:
PVL-SA strains accounted for 61.4% (180/293) of
S. aureus
isolates. PVL prevalence was high in both Gambian bacteraemia and SSTIs
S. aureus
strains. Antimicrobial resistance was low and included chloramphenicol (4.8%), cefoxitin (2.4%), ciprofloxacin (3.8%), erythromycin (8.9%), gentamicin (5.5%) penicillin (92.5%), tetracycline (41.0%), and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (24.2%). There was no association of PVL with antimicrobial resistance.
Conclusion:
PVL expression is high among clinical
S. aureus
strains among Gambian patients. Reporting of PVL-SA clinical infections is necessary to enable the monitoring of the clinical impact of these strains in the population and guide prevention of the spread of virulent PVL-positive CA-MRSA strains.
SUMMARY
Staphylococcus aureus
(
S. aureus
) is a major human pathogen with several virulence factors. We performed a retrospective analysis to investigate the prevalence of one such virulence factor (PVL) amongst clinical
S. aureus
samples. We found a high prevalence in our setting but antimicrobial resistance including methicillin resistance was low.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.