The presence of heterogeneous vancomycin-lntermediate Staphylococcus aureus (heteroVISA) in a major Malaysian hospital.

This study was conducted to detect the presence of heterogenous vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (heteroVISA) among MRSA isolates in a major hospital. Forty-three MRSA isolates with vancomycin MIC 2 microg/ml collected in 2009 was screened for heteroVISA using Etest Glycopeptide Resistance Detection (GRD) and confirmed by population analysis profile-area under curve method. The genetic relatedness of heteroVISA strains with other MRSA was examined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) method.

Characteristics of community- and hospital-acquired meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains carrying SCCmec type IV isolated in Malaysia.

Community-acquired meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) occurring among hospital isolates in Malaysia has not been reported previously. As CA-MRSA reported worldwide has been shown to carry SCCmec types IV and V, the aim of this study was to determine the SCCmec types of MRSA strains collected in Malaysia from November 2006 to June 2008. From a total of 628 MRSA isolates, 20 were SCCmec type IV, whilst the rest were type III.