Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 58 (4), 250-252, 2005
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Short communication
Molecular Typing of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus by PCR-RFLP and Its Usefulness in an Epidemiological Study of an Outbreak
Noriaki Mitani, Akira Koizumi, Reiko Sano, Takayuki Masutani, Koichi Murakawa, Keiichi Mikasa1 and Yasuyuki Okamoto*
Central Clinical Laboratory and 1Center for Infectious Diseases, Nara Medical University, Nara 634-8522, Japan
(Received November 30, 2004. Accepted May 30, 2005)
*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Central Clinical Laboratory, Nara Medical University, Shijo-cho 840, Kashihara, Nara 634-8522, Japan. Tel: +81-744-22-3051, Fax: +81-744-22-4810, E-mail: yasuyuki@naramed-u.ac.jp
SUMMARY: A new convenient molecular typing method, simultaneous polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, for three different genes of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was evaluated using 35 isolates of MRSA and comparing results with those previously reported for sequencing-based spa typing. Twenty-nine isolates of the most frequent protein A (spa) type were discriminated into 6 different types by PCR-RFLP. In contrast, spa typing could discriminate only 1 of the 19 most frequent PCR-RFLP-type isolates. The discriminatory powers of the two methods were equal for the other isolates. These results suggest that PCR-RFLP has the advantages of both relative easiness and greater discriminatory power than spa typing. We also report the case of a suspected outbreak in which PCR-RFLP was sufficient for ruling out the possibility of an outbreak. Thus, PCR-RFLP is preferable as a preliminary screening method for epidemiological studies of nosocomial infection caused by MRSA.