Staphylococcus Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Staphylococcus, including details on mrsa, hospitals, infection, antibiotic resistance, superbugs.

Partial excision of the chromosomal cassette containing the methicillin resistance determinant results in methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus.

Donnio PY, Oliveira DC, Faria NA, Wilhelm N, Le Coustumier A, de Lencastre H

Laboratoire de Bactériologie-Virologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Rue Henri Le Guilloux, 35033 Rennes, France. pierre-yves.donnio@chu-rennes.fr

We report a detailed characterization of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus isolates from five French hospitals negative for both the mecA and the ccrAB loci but positive for the IS431::pUB110::IS431::dcs structure, present in some Staphylococcus cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) types. The presence of SCCmec-associated elements suggests that this unusual resistant phenotype is due to a partial excision of SCCmec from epidemic methicillin-resistant S. aureus. The hypothesis of a genetic relatedness is strengthened by common sequence and spa types and similar susceptibility patterns.

Published 5 August 2005 in J Clin Microbiol, 43(8): 4191-3.
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