Molecular Characterization of Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Iranian Burn Patients

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is reported as one of the important bacterial causes of burn wound infections. This study was carried out to investigate molecular characterization of community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) isolated from Iranian burn patients. METHODS: A total of 31 isolates of S. aureus were collected from the Motahari Burns Hospital (Tehran, Iran) in 2016. All isolates were collected from outpatients and inpatients within 48 hours of admission. The mecA, pvl, tsst-1, hla-α, and psmα genes detecting, SCCmec, agr and PFGE typing were done. RESULTS: A total of 13 (41.9%) isolates were cefoxitin-resistant and mecA-positive, which were considered as MRSA. The SCCmec typing MRSA strains revealed type II in 1 (7.7%), type III in 9 (69.2%), and other types in 3 isolates (23.7%) cases. The agr typing of all 31 isolates showed that 14 (45.2%), 1 (3.2%), 6 (19.4%), and 10 (32.3%) strains belonged to agr groups 1, 3, 4, and unknown type, respectively. The pvl, tsst-1, hla-α, and psmα genes were positive in 3 (9.7%), 4 (12.9%), 21 (67.7%), and 31 (100%) isolates, respectively. Considering the cut-off values of ≥50%, 3 groups of related isolates (cluster A1, B1, and C1) in PFGE study were observed. CONCLUSION: The MRSA strains of this study were initially isolated as Community-associated S. aureus (CA-MRSA); however molecular characterization showed that a significant proportion of them had hospital-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) features. Therefore, it is likely that the HA-MRSA strains are spread among the community.