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The Changing Epidemiology of Methicillin Resistant S. aureus (MRSA)

The Changing Epidemiology of Methicillin Resistant S. aureus (MRSA)

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The New York Academy of Sciences

Presented By

Presented by the Microbiology Section

 

Speaker: Barry Kreiswirth, PHRI TB Center, Public Health Research Institute


Abstract


Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been the most clinically important nosocomial pathogen for the last 45 years; during which time the pathogen has gained resistance to all staphylococcal antibiotics including vancomycin. Unexpectedly, the epidemiology of MRSA changed with the millennium and this hospital restricted pathogen has now aggressively spread in the community. Newly evolved MRSA strains have been reported in Australia, Europe, and across the United States and on each continent a predominant clone has emerged. The U.S. has observed the remarkable transmission of USA300, a clone that has caused an inordinate number of soft tissue infections in healthy pediatric and adult populations. Common among these clones is the presence of the Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) and this association has been linked to virulence. In this lecture the molecular epidemiology of community acquired MRSA studies in NJ and NYC will be presented and the role of PVL will be discussed.