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. 2021 Dec;13(6):817-823.
doi: 10.18502/ijm.v13i6.8086.

A comparative characterization of nasal and clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus from west of Iran

Gholamreza Goudarzi  1   2 , Yaser Hasanvand  1   2 , Faranak Rezaei  1   2 , Somayeh Delfani  1   2
Affiliations

A comparative characterization of nasal and clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus from west of Iran

Gholamreza Goudarzi et al. Iran J Microbiol. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Recently, the rise of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated from hospital healthcare workers (HCWs) and various infectious samples has become one of the main concerns in hospital settings. Therefore, epidemiological studies are necessary to monitor antibiotic resistance patterns in each region and to study the pathogenesis of this strain to control infections.

Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 100 S. aureus isolates, including 50 isolates obtained from the anterior nares of healthcare workers, as well as 50 other isolates cultured from the various clinical specimens from the referral hospitals in Khorramabad (West of Iran) were tested. All isolates were examined to determine antibiotic resistance pattern, and the presence of staphylococcal enterotoxin A (sea), staphylococcal enterotoxin B (seb) and mecA genes.

Results: The mecA gene was found among 36% (18/50) of the clinical S. aureus isolates (CSIs) and 14% (7/50) of nasal S. aureus isolates (NSIs), with statistically significant difference (X2 = 6.53; p = 0.011). The difference between the frequency rate of sea gene among MRSA strains isolated from clinical specimens (46.6%, 7/15) was significant compared to strains isolated from nostrils (14.3%, 1/7) (X2 = 3.85; p = 0.049).

Conclusion: The frequency of mecA, sea, and seb genes among the clinical samples was more than strains isolated from the nostrils of healthcare personnel.

Keywords: MecA; Methicillin resistance; Staphylococcal enterotoxins; Staphylococcus aureus.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Agarose gel electrophoresis of multiplex PCR products for enterotoxin A and B genes (sea, seb). Lane 1, a strain negative for sea and seb genes; Lane 2, positive control strain containing both the enterotoxin genes; Lanes 3–5, isolates contain sea and seb genes, simultaneously; Lane 6, sea gene positive strain (102 bp); Lane 7, seb gene positive strain (164 bp); lane M, 100 bp DNA size marker.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
The frequency of enterotoxin A (sea) and B (seb) genes among 100 isolates of Staphylococcus aureus. A, Frequency of the sea and seb genes among 50 NSIs; B, Frequency of the sea and seb genes among 50 CSIs (x2 = 1.286, p = 0.733).
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR products generated from mecA gene amplification. Lanes 1–10, mecA gene positive isolates; Lanes 13–6+9*-15 mecA gene negative isolates; Lanes 11 and 12, positive control strains; Lane M, 100 bp DNA size marker.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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