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Multidrug-Resistant Iberian Epidemic Clone of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Endemic in a Hospital in Northern Portugal

1995; Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.; Volume: 1; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1089/mdr.1995.1.299

1931-8448

Ilda Santos‐Sanches, Marta Aires-de-Sousa, Letícia De Oliveira Sobral, I M Calheiros, Lucas Valério Felício, I. PEDRA, H. DE LENCASTRE,

Plant Pathogenic Bacteria Studies

Forty-two methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates collected during 1992–1995 at a hospital in the north of Portugal were characterized by a variety of genomic fingerprints. Hybridization of ClaI and SmaI restriction digests with the mecA- and Tn554-specific DNA probes was used to identify polymorphs and determine their localization in chromosomal DNA preparations, and pulsed-field gel electrophoretic analysis of SmaI digests was used to determine chromosomal backgrounds. A major clone (and its variants) carrying the mecA polymorph I, Tn554 type E in the PFGE background of pattern A, accounted for 85% of all MRSA tested in 1992–1993 and 66% in 1994–1995. This clone is closely related to the epidemic Iberian clone that was associated with outbreaks in Spain during 1989–1993 and was endemic in 1992–1993 in two hospitals in Lisbon (Portugal).