TRs analysis revealed Staphylococcus epidermidis transmission among patients and hospital

Abstract

Background: As a great opportunistic pathogen, Staphylococcus epidermidis participates in a wide spectrum of infections by residing in the medical devices. Regardless of the clinical importance of S. epidermidis, there are a few data about typing of clinical and non-clinical isolates at the subspecies level in Iran. We used the technique of "Multiple-Locus Variable number tandem repeat Analysis" for genetic differentiation of 107 clinical and non-clinical S. epidermidis isolates.

Methods: Five appropriate Tandem Repeats were selected using bioinformatics programs and PCR-amplified using specific primers. Clustering of the "Multiple-Locus Variable number tandem repeat Analysis" profile was performed using BioNumerics. All isolates yielded a PCR product for all Variable Number Tandem Repeat loci.

Results: Approximately 28% of the isolates were Methicillin Resistant S. epidermidis. High level of genetic diversity between isolates was observed. Overly, the S. epidermidis isolates were discriminated into 43 various "Multiple-Locus Variable number tandem repeat Analysis" types. Twenty-seven isolates obtained from blood showed in 21 "Multiple-Locus Variable number tandem repeat Analysis" types, and 10 samples collected from the environment were distributed in three Multiple-Locus Variable number tandem repeat Analysis" types. There was a significant relationship between the Multiple-Locus Variable number tandem repeat Analysis types and isolated strains of blood and the environment indicating the successful colonization of environmental clones in the hospitalized patients in the surgical ward.

Conclusions: The Multiple-Locus Variable number tandem repeat Analysis technique showed information about the transmission of this bacterium among patients, staff and the hospital environment.

Keywords: Clinical; MLVA; Non-clinical; Staphylococcus epidermidis.