Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage in Ukraine: antibacterial resistance and virulence factor encoding genes

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>The number of studies regarding the incidence of multidrug resistant strains and distribution of genes encoding virulence factors, which have colonized the post-Soviet states, is considerably limited. The aim of the study was (1) to assess the <jats:italic>Staphylococcus (S.) aureus</jats:italic> nasal carriage rate, including Methicillin Resistant <jats:italic>S. aureus</jats:italic> (MRSA) strains in adult Ukrainian population, (2) to determine antibiotic resistant pattern and (3) the occurrence of Panton Valentine Leukocidine (PVL)-, Fibronectin-Binding Protein A (FnBPA)- and Exfoliative Toxin (ET)-encoding genes.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>Nasal samples for <jats:italic>S. aureus</jats:italic> culture were obtained from 245 adults. The susceptibility pattern for several classes of antibiotics was determined by disk diffusion method according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guidelines. The virulence factor encoding genes, <jats:italic>mecA, lukS-lukF, eta, etb, etd, fnbA,</jats:italic> were detected by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>The <jats:italic>S. aureus</jats:italic> nasal carriage rate was 40%. The prevalence of nasal MRSA carriage in adults was 3.7%. <jats:italic>LukS-lukF</jats:italic> genes were detected in over 58% of the strains. ET-encoding genes were detected in over 39% of the strains and the most prevalent was <jats:italic>etd</jats:italic>. The <jats:italic>fnbA</jats:italic> gene was detected in over 59% of the strains. All MRSA isolates tested were positive for the <jats:italic>mecA</jats:italic> gene. <jats:italic>LukS-lukF</jats:italic> genes and the <jats:italic>etd</jats:italic> gene were commonly co-present in MRSA<jats:italic>,</jats:italic> while <jats:italic>lukS-lukF</jats:italic> genes and the <jats:italic>fnbA</jats:italic> gene were commonly co-present in Methicillin Sensitive <jats:italic>S. aureus</jats:italic> (MSSA) isolates. No significant difference was detected between the occurrence of <jats:italic>lukS-lukF</jats:italic> genes (P > 0.05) and the <jats:italic>etd</jats:italic> gene (P > 0.05) when comparing MRSA and MSSA. The occurrence of the <jats:italic>fnbA</jats:italic> gene was significantly more frequent in MSSA strains (P < 0.05)<jats:italic>.</jats:italic> </jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title> <jats:p>In Ukraine, <jats:italic>S. aureus</jats:italic> is a common cause of infection. The prevalence of <jats:italic>S. aureus</jats:italic> nasal carriage in our cohort of patients from Ukraine was 40.4%. We found that 9.1% of the strains were classified as MRSA and all MRSA isolates tested positive for the <jats:italic>mecA</jats:italic> gene. We also observed a high prevalence of PVL- and ET- encoding genes among <jats:italic>S. aureus</jats:italic> nasal carriage strains. A systematic surveillance system can help prevent transmission and spread of drug resistant toxin producing <jats:italic>S. aureus</jats:italic> strains.</jats:p> </jats:sec>