Prevalence of genes encoding extracellular virulence factors among meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from the University Hospital, Olomouc, Czech Republic

<jats:p>A rather fast and complicated progression of an infection caused by some strains of<jats:italic>Staphylococcus aureus</jats:italic>could be associated with the expression and co-action of virulence factor complexes in these strains. This study screened the antibiotic susceptibility and prevalence of virulence markers in isolates of meticillin-resistant<jats:italic>S. aureus</jats:italic>(MRSA) obtained from patients hospitalized at the University Hospital in Olomouc, Czech Republic. A total of 100 isolates was screened for 13 genes encoding extracellular virulence determinants (<jats:italic>tst</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>pvl</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>eta</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>etb</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>sea</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>seb</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>sec</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>sed</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>see</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>seg</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>seh</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>sei</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>sej</jats:italic>) and for their distribution in sample types. Eighty-nine isolates were positive for at least one of the genes. Genes for<jats:italic>etb</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>pvl</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>see</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>seh</jats:italic>were not detected in any of the MRSA isolates. No statistically significant differences in the occurrence of the determinants studied among sample types were found.</jats:p>