Molecular detection of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus harbouring β- lactamase resistance genes isolated from different sources of infections

• Main Authors: Amir Hani Raziq, Ahmed Mohammed Sulaiman, Narmin Saeed Merza, Zainab Hasan Abdullah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hawler Medical University 2017-12-01
• Series: Zanco Journal of Medical Sciences
• Subjects: Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus; mec A; TEM; multiplex- PCR; Uniplex-PCR
• Online Access: http://zjms-hmu.org/files/articles/281217024202.pdf
• ISSN: 1995-5588; 1995-5596

Background and objective: The detection and investigation of methicillin resistance staphylococci specifically S. aureus in clinical microbiology setting is very helpful both for informing the appropriate treatment of individual patients and also for the surveillance of these organisms. This study aimed at the rapid molecular detection of methicillin resistant staphylococci harbouring β-lactamase gene and determination of the efficiency of m-PCR through comparison with uniplex PCR. Methods: Standard microbiological techniques were applied for the determination of the presence of methicillin resistant S. aureus in samples recovered from different body sites of patients who attended Al-Kadhumyhia Teaching and Baghdad Teaching Hospitals. The resulting methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates were subjected to uni and multiplex PCR amplifications for detecting the existence of mec A gene and β-lactamase (TEM) resistance gene. Results: Half of the cases involved were found to be caused by MRSA. All the tested isolates showed positive amplification bands for the presence of mec A gene and only 48.8% of these harbored TEM gene. The obtained results revealed high sensitivity of universal bacterial and TEM primers expressed as 97.6% and 100% respectively, while the sensitivity of mec A primer was limited to 60%. Conclusion: The phenotypic identification of MRSA revealed a higher incidence rate and that different molecular techniques can yield conflicting results and it can also be concluded that resistant due to beta- lactamase production can be a crucial factor added to the previously settled methicillin resistant due to mec A gene.