[SCAN] Staphylococcus aureus in former Portuguese colonies in Africa: missing pieces in the world MRSA puzzle

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Title: Staphylococcus aureus in former Portuguese colonies in Africa: missing pieces in the world MRSA puzzle!

Speaker: Teresa Conceição

Affiliation:

Abstract: Despite the importance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as a major human pathogen, data on the epidemiology of MRSA from former Portuguese colonies in Africa are scarce. Therefore, the present study aims to determine the prevalence and risk factors for MRSA nasal carriage among patients and healthcare workers in Angola (ANG), São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) and Cape Verde (CV), and to characterize the antimicrobial susceptibility, virulence content and population structure of all S. aureus. A total of 1980 nasal swabs recovered between 2010 and 2014 were included in the study. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and molecular characterization of S. aureus showed: (i) a very high MRSA prevalence in ANG (59%), moderate in STP (24%), low in CV (4.5%); (ii) a high prevalence of Panton–Valentine leukocidin in STP (39%), and CV (28%) contrasting with ANG (7%); (iii) ST5-SCCmecIVa, ST8-IV/V and ST5-VI were the major MRSA clones in ANG (65%), STP (45%) and CV (50%), respectively; (iv) a high resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in ANG (64%) and STP (50%), to rifampin in ANG (80%), and to tetracycline and erythromycin in STP (37% and 24%, respectively); (v) three major methicillin-susceptible S. aureus clones (ST15, ST508, ST152) were present in all four countries. Moreover, we identified a high prevalence of oxacillin-susceptible MRSA (OS-MRSA), which constitute a major concern on to the misidentification of MRSA strains and possible treatment failure. This study provided the first comprehensive overview on MRSA in former Portuguese colonies in Africa, and missing data to fill the MRSA world map.