Detection of an outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with reduced susceptibility to glucopeptides in a French hospital

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus isolates were screened for reduced susceptibility to glycopeptides with an initial glycopeptide agar screening test, followed by confirmation of the strains thus identified by two Etest strip techniques and population analysis. This procedure detected 48 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates with reduced susceptibility to glycopeptides from 24 patients among 883 MRSA isolates tested. The dissemination of a single clone was confirmed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. © 2004 Copyright by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.