Increased frequency of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in hospitalized patients requires rapid and reliable\ncharacterization of isolates for control of MRSA spread in hospitals. This study evaluated polymerase chain reaction-restriction\nfragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) as a molecular typing technique for MRSA strains on the basis of protein A (spa)\nand coagulase (coa) gene polymorphisms to verify their ability in assessing the relatedness of isolates. Seventy-five MRSA isolates,\nfrom different ICUs of Alexandria University Main Hospital, were characterized using antibiotyping and PCR-RFLP analysis of\ncoa and spa genes. Thirty-two antibiotypes were identified. coa gene PCR generated 3 types and 10 subtypes of band patterns.\nHaeIII restriction digestion of amplified coa gene products produced 5 major banding patterns and 12 subtypes. spa gene PCR\nproducts generated 4 major and 11 minor types, and their HaeII restriction digestion showed 5 major and 12 minor banding\npatterns. The combined coa and spa RFLP patterns generated 22 combined R types. Typing using coa PCR and PCR-RFLP had\nthe same discriminatory index (DI) value (0.64), which was comparable to that of both spa PCR and PCR-RFLP techniques (0.68).\nThe combined grouping increased the DI value to 0.836.The current study revealed that testing for multiple gene polymorphisms\nis more useful for local epidemiologic purposes.
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