High Prevalence of Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (PVL)‎ Genes in Nosocomial-Acquired Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Tertiary Care Hospitals in Nepal

Abstract EN

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carrying the important virulence determinant, Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), is an emerging infectious pathogen associated with skin and soft tissue infections as well as life-threatening invasive diseases.

In carrying out the first PVL prevalence study in Nepal, we screened 73 nosocomial isolates of S.

aureus from 2 tertiary care Nepali hospitals and obtained an overall PVL-positivity rate of 35.6% among the hospital isolates: 26.1% of MRSA and 51.9% of methicillin sensitive S.

aureus (MSSA) isolates were found to be positive for the PVL genes.

PVL prevalence was not associated with a specific (i) infection site, (ii) age group, or (iii) hospital of origin.

It was found to be positively associated with heterogeneous MRSA (73.3%) compared to homogeneous MRSA (3.2%) and MSSA (51.9%); negatively associated with multiresistant MRSA (22%) compared to nonmultiresistant MRSA (60%) and MSSA (51.9%); and positively associated with macrolide-streptogramin B resistance (93.8%) compared to macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B resistance (0%) and no-resistance (45.8%) types.

Macrolide-streptogramin B resistance was confirmed by the presence of msr(A) gene.

Restriction pattern analyses provided evidence to support the circulation of a limited number of clones of PVL-positive MRSA, arguing for the adaptability of these isolates to a hospital setting.