Panton- Valentin Leukocidin and mecA in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Isolates from hospitalized Patients in Rasht, Iran

Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus have a high virulence and are after accompanied with skin abscesses and acute necrosis. mecA is integrated into the orfx gene cassette in the S. aureus chromosome. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of pvl gene and its relationship with mecA in isolated from hospitalized patients in Rasht, northern Iran.During a six-month period, a total of 93 clinical isolates of staphylococcus were obtained. Initial tests were performed by use of Disk Diffusion method. Resistance to Methicillin was determined by Oxacillin disk and the prevalence of was conducted by PCR on chromosomal DNA. The pvl positive isolates were further analyzed for the presence of mecA genes by use of specific primers in PCR.Totally, 18 isolates (19.56%) were positive for pvl gene, and among them 15 isolates (83.33%) were MRSA, 3 (16.66) were MSSA and 8 (44.44%) were positive for mecA gene. 9 were obtained from wound specimens, 3 from urine 3 from body fluid, 2 from blood, and 1 from splinter spent.That the majority of pvl positive isolates were MRSA and almost half of them had mecA gene, it can be postulated that there is a significant relationship between these two traits.

Keywords:

MRSA , Panton Valentine Leucocidin (PVL) , Methicillin , mecA