Incidence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carrying Pantone-Valentine leucocidin gene at a referral hospital in United Arab Emirates.

Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is an emerging pathogen in hospitalized patients worldwide. The present study was undertaken to identify CA-MRSA in hospitalized patients in a 350-bed tertiary care hospital in Sharjah, UAE over a 2-year period from January 2011 to December 2012. CA-MRSA was defined based on identification within first 48 h of admission in the hospital. Staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCC) mec typing of the CA-MRSA isolates was carried out by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Detection of PVL and mecA genes was done by PCR using the GenoType(®) MRSA test system (Hain Lifescience). Patient's clinical data and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the CA-MRSA isolates were also evaluated. Fifty seven of the 187 MRSA isolates were identified as CA-MRSA. All the CA-MRSA strains in our study belonged to SCCmecIV type and were positive for both PVL and mecA genes. The patients with CA-MRSA infections were young (median age, 32 years) and the majority of infections involved the skin and soft tissue (36%). Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the CA-MRSA isolates showed a better susceptibility profile to the non-beta-lactam antimicrobials with the exception of ciprofloxacin having 28% resistance. This study evidently strengthens the recent observation of an increase in CA-MRSA emergence among hospitalized patients in the UAE.