Molecular detection of and in patients with soft tissue infections in a tertiary hospital setting, Calabar, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND

Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) is one of the major virulence factors known to be associated with invasive, life-threatening () soft tissue infections. Several studies have shown that methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible (MSSA) are carriers of the ; however, data describing their prevalence and distribution in the Nigerian setting are sparse in the literature, and thus informed the need for the current study.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to detect and analysed the risk factors associated with -producing wound infections.

DESIGN

This was a single-centre hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study conducted between March 2019 and September 2019 at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria.

METHODS

Aspirates from participants with soft tissue infections were cultured, and all isolates of were tested for the presence of using endpoint polymerase chain reaction. The was also detected, and antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed.

RESULTS

Eighty isolates were identified from 360 participants. Of the eighty, 47 (58.8%) were MRSA and 10 (12.5%) were -producing strains. Of the ten, six were MSSA and four were MRSA, but the difference was not statistically significant. A significant association was observed between -producing infected wounds and recurrent skin infections ( = 0.024), as well as working in a day care nursery home ( = 0.0008). The majority of isolates were susceptible to tigecycline (76%) and vancomycin (76%), followed by susceptibility to linezolid (72.5%), quinupristin/dalfopristin (67.2%), levofloxacin (38.6%) and erythromycin (11.7%).

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of PVL-positive strains causing soft tissue infections in our setting is seemingly high. There is a need for active surveillance of this gene in patients presenting with soft tissue infections in our setting, ensure antibiotic susceptibility testing, evaluate the impact of these strains on clinical outcomes and prevent the spread of -positive strains.