Prevalence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Carrying Panton-Valentine Leukocidin Gene in Cutaneous Infections in the City of Isfahan

Background: methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (mrsa) is a major cause of nosocomial and community infections that are becoming increasingly difficult to combat, because of emerging resistance to all classes of antibiotics. moreover panton-valentine leukocidin (pvl) is an important virulence factor in s. aureus and causes white blood cell destruction, necrosis and accelerated apoptosis. the aim of this study was to determine the frequency of pvl-positive mrsa in cutaneous infections, for epidemiological purposes and also to determine antibiotic resistance of the isolates. methods: collectively, 56 isolates of s. aureus were obtained from isfahan university of medical sciences affiliated hospitals and confirmed with biochemical tests (coagulase, mannitol fermentation, and dnase). then polymerase chain reaction (pcr) was used to detect pvl gene. coagulase gene was used as internal control. the antibiotic susceptibility of all isolates to methicillin was determined using disk diffusion method. results: out of 56 isolates 14.3% were pvl positive that 37.5% were from abscess and 62.5% were from wound. among all of these isolates 67.8% were mrsa and also 75% of pvl-positive isolates were mrsa. conclusion: the prevalence of pvl positive mrsa in cutaneous isolates is high. future works are necessary for a more complete understanding of distribution of these virulent isolates in nasal carriers to decrease the risk of infections.