International Journal of Microbiology
Volume 2009 (2009), Article ID 472126, 5 pages
doi:10.1155/2009/472126
Research Article

Characteristics of Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) Strains Isolated from Skin and Soft-Tissue Infections in Uruguay

Lorena Pardo,1 Virginia Machado,1 Marta Mollerach,2 María Inés Mota,1 Lorena P. N. Tuchscherr,3 Pilar Gadea,1 Noella Gardella,2 Daniel O. Sordelli,3 Magdalena Vola,1 Felipe Schelotto,1 and Gustavo Varela1

1Department of Bacteriology and Virology, Institute of Hygiene, School of Medicine, Universidad de la República, Alfredo Navarro, 3051 Montevideo, Uruguay
2Cátedra de Microbiología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Junín 956, 1113 Buenos Aires, Argentina
3Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, 1113 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Received 27 May 2009; Accepted 6 August 2009

Academic Editor: John R. Tagg

Copyright © 2009 Lorena Pardo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

We analyzed 90 nonduplicates community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) strains isolated from skin and soft-tissue infections. All strains were mecA positive. Twenty-four of the 90 strains showed inducible macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B resistance. All strains produced α-toxin; 96% and 100% of them displayed positive results for lukS-F and cna genes, respectively. Eigthy-five strains expressed capsular polysaccharide serotype 8. Six different pulsotypes were discriminated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and three predominant groups of CA-MRSA strains (1, 2, and 4) were identified, in agreement with phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. Strains of group 1 (pulsotype A, CP8+, and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)+) were the most frequently recovered and exhibited a PFGE band pattern identical to other CA-MRSA strains previously isolated in Uruguay and Brazil. Three years after the first local CA-MRSA report, these strains are still producing skin and soft-tissue infections demonstrating the stability over time of this community-associated emerging pathogen.