The high cross-transmission in methicillin resistant between healthy and patient communities.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Methicillin-resistant (MRSA) is one of the main causes of high mortality and morbidity in hospitals. This study was aimed to examine virulence factors, molecular typing, and the antibiotic resistance pattern of MRSA isolates in hemodialysis patients and healthy communities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Total of 231 and 400 nasal samples were obtained from hemodialysis patients and healthy communities, respectively. Virulence factors profile was examined in two groups by PCR reaction. Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC-PCR) was used as a molecular typing approach.

RESULTS

Overall, 35.49% (82/231) of hemodialysis patients were positive for and 47.56% (39/82) of isolates were positive for . In a healthy community, 15% (60/400) of samples were positive for , and 36.66% (22/60) were positive for . The frequency of MDR was significantly higher in patients group (p-value < 0.00001). The frequency of (p.value = 0.003932, P<0.05) and (p.value = 0.003173, p < .05) were significantly higher in patients group. The highest frequency virulence factors in healthy individuals were related to (68.33%, 41/60), (53.33%, 32/60), and (46.66%) genes. Two groups were clustered by the ERIC-PCR method into 7 clusters and 2 single isolate with a 0.74 similarity index. Based on the results, each cluster was combination with healthy and patient isolates.

CONCLUSION

Our findings indicate a notable variation in the frequency of virulence factors between isolates obtained from dialysis patients and the healthy community.