Dissemination of the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Pediatric Clone (ST5-T002-IV-PVL+) as a Major Cause of Community-associated Staphylococcal Infections in Bedouin Children, Southern Israel.

INTRODUCTION

Pediatric community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections are emerging worldwide. High CA-MRSA carriage rates were previously described in healthy Bedouin children. We assessed demographic, clinical and molecular characteristics of pediatric MRSA infections in southern Israel.

METHODS

The Soroka University Medical Center laboratory serves the entire population of southern Israel, divided into 2 ethnic groups, Bedouins and Jews. All in-hospital MRSA clinical isolates from children 0 to 18 years old obtained in 2016 were included. Health care-associated and community-associated infections were defined according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention case definition. All isolates were evaluated for staphylococcal cassette chromosome, Panton-Valentine leukocidin, S. aureus protein A type, pulsed field gel electrophoresis and antimicrobial susceptibility testing.

RESULTS

Overall, 95 MRSA isolates (18% of all S. aureus), with 25 different MRSA strains, were identified. Twenty-eight isolates (29.5% of MRSA) belonged to the pediatric clone, rarely observed in Israel, staphylococcal cassette chromosome IV, Panton-Valentine leukocidin positive, S. aureus protein A type 002. All isolates demonstrated identical pulsed-field-gel-electrophoresis fingerprints. Eighty-two percent of infections caused by this clone were community-acquired, mainly observed in young Bedouin children, causing skin and soft-tissue infections. The new clone infection characteristics were similar to those of other CA-MRSA. All isolates of the pediatric clone were susceptible to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, tetracycline, rifampicin and vancomycin; 17.8% were nonsusceptible to erythromycin and clindamycin.

CONCLUSION

The pediatric CA-MRSA clone, previously described only in sporadic cases in Israel, is emerging among healthy, young Bedouin children, typically causing skin and soft-tissue infections. Isolates are susceptible to a variety of non-beta-lactam antibiotics.