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Population structure of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) in Portugal over a 19-year period (1992–2011)

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Abstract

Despite their clinical relevance, few studies have addressed the epidemiology of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA). In particular, it is not clear how MSSA population structure has evolved over time and how it might have been shaped by the emergence of MRSA in the community (CA-MRSA). In the present study we have evaluated the MSSA population structure over time, its geographical distribution and relatedness with MRSA in Portugal. A total of 465 MSSA from infection and colonization, collected over a 19-year period (1992–2011) in the northern, central and southern regions of Portugal were analyzed. Isolates were characterized by spa typing and multilocus-sequence typing (MLST). Isolates with predominant spa types were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Isolates relatedness was analyzed by eBURST and BURP. The 172 spa types found among the 465 MSSA were grouped into 18 spa-CC (clonal complexes). Ten clonal types were more prevalent (40 %): one major clone (ST30-t012) was present in the entire study period and all over the country and the other nine were intermittently detected over time (ST5-t002, ST8-t008, ST15-t084, ST34-t166, ST72-t148, ST1-t127, ST7-t091, ST398-t571 and ST34-t136). Interestingly, three MSSA clonal types observed only after 1996 were closely related with CA-MRSA epidemic strains (ST8-t008, ST72-t148 and ST1-t127) found currently in Portugal. The MSSA population in Portugal is genetically diverse; however, some dominant clonal types have been established and widely disseminated for almost two decades. We identified MSSA isolates that were related with emergent CA-MRSA clones found in Portugal.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Portuguese health care institutions that participated in the SRL (staphylococcal reference laboratory) project in collaboration with Professor Hermínia de Lencastre (Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Member of the European Staphylococcal Reference Laboratory Working Group) that led to the isolation of 87 MSSA isolates included in this study.

The multilaboratory project collaborators included: José Melo-Cristino and Luís Lito, Serviço de Patologia Clínica, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte, Lisboa, Portugal; Margarida Pinto and Rosa M. Barros, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central, Lisboa, Portugal; Germano Sousa, Luísa Sancho, Teresa Sardinha, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Hospital Fernando da Fonseca, Amadora, Portugal; Alberta Faustino, Serviço de Patologia clínica, Hospital de Braga, Braga, Portugal; Graça Ribeiro and Luísa Boaventura, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; Maria Teresa Vaz and Marília Gião, Serviço de Patologia Clínica, Centro Hospitalar do Barlavento Algarvio, Portimão, Portugal; Manuela Ribeiro, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Hospital de São João, Porto, Portugal; Filipa Carneiro, Maria Antónia Read, Maria João Soares and Valquira Alves, Serviço de Patologia Clínica, Hospital Pedro Hispano, Matosinhos, Portugal; Elsa Gonçalves, Filomena Martins and Maria Teresa Marques, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Ocidental, Lisboa, Portugal; Adriana Coutinho, Manuel Carvalho and Maria João Nunes, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Hospital do Espírito Santo, Évora, Portugal; Augusto Machado e Costa and Maria Luísa Gonçalves, Laboratório de Microbiologia and Departamento de Medicina, Hospital do SAMS, Lisboa, Portugal; Natália Marto and Paulo Paixão, Laboratório de Patologia Clínica, Hospital da Luz, Lisboa, Portugal.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Financial disclosure

This study was funded by Project Ref. P-99911 from Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Portugal and grant Ref. Pest-OE/EQB/LAO004/2011, from Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal. A. Tavares and N. A. Faria were supported by grants SFRH/BD/44220/2008 and SFRH/BPD/66514/2009, respectively from FCT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (ITQB), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL), Oeiras, Portugal

    A. Tavares, N. A. Faria, H. de Lencastre & M. Miragaia

  2. Laboratory of Bacterial Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (ITQB), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL), Rua da Quinta Grande no 6, 2780-156, Oeiras, Portugal

    N. A. Faria & M. Miragaia

  3. Laboratory of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA

    H. de Lencastre

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  1. A. Tavares
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  2. N. A. Faria
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  4. M. Miragaia
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Correspondence to M. Miragaia.

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Tavares, A., Faria, N.A., de Lencastre, H. et al. Population structure of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) in Portugal over a 19-year period (1992–2011). Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 33, 423–432 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-013-1972-z

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