[Molecular epidemiology of the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) by the internal transcribed spacer PCR (ITS-PCR) method and the phage open reading frame typing (POT) method].

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the most common causative bacteria of hospital acquired infection, and should be rapidly identified for infection control. For this purpose, in our hospital, the PCR electrophoresis patterns of spacer regions (ITS: internal transcribed spacers) (ITS-PCR) are combined with a toxigenicity assay to establish a strain identification method for outbreak surveillance. In the present study, the usefulness of this method was evaluated in comparison with the POT (phage-open reading frame typing) method. One hundred MRSA strains isolated from inpatients in our hospital between April 2011 and March 2012 were classified into 25 patterns using the ITS-PCR method combined with a toxigenicity assay. The strains could be classified into 46 patterns using the POT method. ITS-PCR type 22 strain producing enterotoxin C and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 could be further classified into 7 patterns using the POT method. In the outbreak of the type 22 strain, cross-infection could be excluded by additional analysis using the POT method, providing more precise information on strain identification. We identified that some strains of the same POT type consisted of different ITS-PCR types or toxigenicities. Therefore, these results suggest that the combination of ITS-PCR method plus toxigenicity assay with POT method may be a useful technique of MRSA typing.