First report of methicillin-resistant carrying the gene in human samples from Iran: prevalence and molecular characteristics.

There is a lack of information concerning clinical methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strains throughout the world. In the present survey, 345 MRSA strains were characterized by antimicrobial susceptibility testing and staphylococcal cassette chromosome element (SCC) typing. -positive MRSA isolates were characterized by study of biofilm formability, adhesion and virulence analysis, multilocus sequence typing, accessory gene regulator () typing, S. aureus protein A locus () typing and staphylocoagulase typing. The present study found ten SCC types, with the majority being SCC type III (38.3%). The presence of was confirmed in three isolates from skin wounds (two isolates) and burn wounds (one isolate). All the -positive isolates carried SCC XI and belonged to type III. Molecular typing showed that these isolates belonged to clonal complex/ST130- type t843- type III (two isolates) and clonal complex/ST599- type 5930- type I. The presence of SCC type IV confirms the hypothesis of extensive infiltration from the community to the hospital. Detection of MRSA isolates harbouring the gene highlights the need to perform routine detection methods and molecular investigations in order to identify these emerging strains and limit their transfer in hospitals and communities.