Prevalence of Panton-Valentine Leukocidin Gene among Community Acquired : A Real-Time PCR Study.

Panton-Valentine leukocidin () is a cytotoxin that causes leukocyte destruction and tissue necrosis. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the , , and genes in isolates obtained from anterior nares and superficial infection sites of skin in a slum population of West Bengal, India. Expression level of gene was also analysed. Twenty-two strains were isolated, and phenotype and genotype specific examinations for isolates were carried out. Molecular identification was done by PCR using species-specific 16S rRNA primer pairs and finally 22 isolates were found to be positive as . The antibiotic responsiveness of all these isolates and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of MRSA isolates were determined using the broth dilution method with vancomycin. Antibiogram analysis of isolated strains with respect to different antimicrobial agents revealed antibiotic resistance ranging from 27 to 91%. The results of MIC for vancomycin showed 95% of strains to be VSSA and 5% to be VISA. 68% isolates were resistant to methicillin. All the isolates were subjected to detection of A, and genes, and 9%, 68%, and 27% were found to harbour A, and genes, respectively. All the MRSA strains produced high to moderate levels of biofilm. gene expression was carried out by Real-Time PCR. The low ∆Ct value (0.493) was indicative of high expression of in one strain. Thus, detection of gene in community acquired indicates the emergence of pathogenic in community setup in the studied region. The existing exploration is extremely imperative and informative for the high level multi-drug resistant infections inclusive of MRSA.