Abstract

STAPHYLOCOCCAL CASSETTE CHROMOSOME MEC (SCCMEC) TYPING OF METHICILLIN-RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCI OBTAINED FROM CLINICAL SAMPLES IN SOUTH-SOUTH, NIGERIA.

Maureen Uchechukwu Okwu (PhD)*, Olley Mitsan (M.Sc), Bankole Oladeinde (M.Sc), Ilse Palmans (Ing) and Patrick Van Dijck (PhD)

ABSTRACT

Molecular typing techniques have been employed in the epidemiological study of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCoNS) to identify the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) elements. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and diversity of SCCmec types in the isolates obtained from four hospitals in south-south, Nigeria. A total of 149 staphylococcal isolates were obtained from clinical samples from March through September, 2015. They were identified and SCCmec typing was done using single-target PCR. The prevalence of methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) in this study was 53.7%. SCCmec type II was the most prevalent with 43.0% while for cassette chromosome recombinases (ccr) typing, ccrC (type5) was the predominant with 44.2%. Nineteen (22.1%) of the MRS isolates were non-typeable for both ccr and mec gene complexes. There is a need to curb the spread of MRS in south-south, Nigeria.

Keywords: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Polymerase chain reaction, Molecular typing.