<p>Community-associated <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em> PVL⁺ ST22 predominates in skin and soft tissue infections in Beijing, China</p>

Abstract

Purpose Community-associated Staphylococcus aureus (CA S. aureus ) is the most common causative pathogen of the skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). This study aims to determine clonal distribution, virulence factors of CA S. aureus clinical isolates from purulent SSTIs in Beijing, China. Materials and methods CA- S. aureus isolates were collected from 115 outpatients with purulent SSTIs from the department of dermatology from April 2015 to April 2017. Multilocus sequence typing and Staphylococcus cassette chromosome mec typing were performed to explore molecular characteristics. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA of dominant S. aureus isolates was performed using MEGA-X software. Virulence genes were detected by PCR, while biofilm formation was evaluated by a microtiter plate method. The antimicrobial susceptibility was tested by an automatic VITEK system. Results Forty-four CA- S. aureus isolates identified from SSTIs contain 9 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates (20.4%) and 35 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus isolates (MSSA) (79.6%). The dominant sequence types (STs) were ST22 (40.9%) and clonal complex 59 (CC59; 77.8%) in Community-associated methicillin resistant methicillin-resistant S. aureus . 27.8% of ST22 isolates were homologous to the epidemic ST22 EMRSA-15 in Europe. The prevalence of virulence genes lukS/lukF, tst-1, etA, edinA, icaA , and icaD was 50%, 93.2%, 4.5%, 4.5%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. All CC59 isolates exhibited stronger biofilm-forming capability than ST22 clones. Among the MSSA subgroup, the poor biofilm producers had significantly higher sensitivity to sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim. Conclusion The dominant epidemic clone PVL + ST22 MSSA containing tst-1 occurs in Beijing, indicating that a PVL + ST398 clone which was previously predominant in this district had been replaced by a new clone.

Emergence of a mupirocin-resistant, methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus clone associated with skin and soft tissue infections in Greece

“…Studies worldwide have demonstrated the virulence of S. aureus and its association with SSTIs [ 1 , 2 , 5 , 8 – 10 , 14 ]. Determination of clonal distribution and virulence factors of community-acquired S. aureus clinical isolates from purulent SSTIs in Beijing, China showed MSSA prevalence (79.6 %), in agreement to our results [ 15 ].…”

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST80 Clone: A Systematic Review

“…Recent studies reported the local predominance of this clone in many countries including European countries [143,144], the Middle East, Asia, and South America [145]. Another epidemic clone, MRSA-ST22, has been predominately identified in recent years throughout the Middle East [44,45,[146][147][148][149][150][151][152][153][154], Europe [155][156][157][158][159][160], and Asia [161][162][163]. For North Africa, the lower number of studies on MRSA means that MRSA lineages remained unclear.…”

Molecular Characteristics, Virulence Gene and Wall Teichoic Acid Glycosyltransferase Profiles of Staphylococcus aureus: A Multicenter Study in China

“…We then analyzed the composition ratio and found only ST59-t437 occupied the top five positions in three regions indicating ST59-t437 is now a widely distributed S. aureus clone in China. ST22 was the predominant clone of both MSSA, and community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) isolates collecting from Beijing and Urumqi ( Xiao et al, 2019 ; Yuan et al, 2019 ), indicating that ST22-t309-MSSA was the emerging and most common clone in southern China as well as northern China. Moreover, the majority of the MSSA clones observed in the present study are globally disseminated.…”