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Dissemination of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clones in northern Norway: sequence types 8 and 80 predominate.

Hanssen AM, Fossum A, Mikalsen J, Halvorsen DS, Bukholm G, Sollid JU

Department for Microbiology and Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway. annemh@fagmed.uit.no

Increasing frequencies of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain isolation have been reported from many countries. The overall prevalence of MRSA in Norway is still very low. MRSA isolates (n = 67) detected between 1995 and 2003 in northern Norway were analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, multilocus sequence typing, and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing. Sixty-seven isolates were associated with 13 different sequence types. Two successful MRSA clones predominated. Sequence type 8 (ST8) (40%) and ST80 (19%) containing SCCmec type IV were detected in hospitals and communities in different geographic regions during a 7-year period. In general, there was a low level of antimicrobial resistance. Only 26% of the isolates were multiresistant. International epidemic clones were detected. The frequent findings of SCCmec type IV (91%) along with heterogeneous genetic backgrounds suggest a horizontal spread of SCCmec type IV among staphylococcal strains in parallel with the clonal spread of successful MRSA strains.

Published 5 May 2005 in J Clin Microbiol, 43(5): 2118-24.
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