ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the prevalence and molecular characteristic of heterogeneous‐ vancomycin intermediate Staphylococcus aureus(hVISA) among methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)strains isolated from sterile body fluid specimens from 2009 to 2013 in Huangzhou District People′s Hospital in Huanggang City .Methods The minimum inhibitory con‐centrations (MIC) of antibiotics was determined by agar dilution method .The hVISA strains were detected by population analysis profile/area under the curve method (PAP/AUC) .The staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) ,multilocus‐sequence typing (MLST) ,accessory gene regulator (agr) and Staphylococcus aureus protein A(spa) typing of hVISA strains were detected using PCR method .Results 32 hVISA strains were detected among 285 MRSA strains ,the prevalence rate of hVISA was 11 .2% , and the detection rates of hVISA from 2009 to 2013 were 0 .0% ,6 .4% ,9 .0% ,14 .3% and 18 .8% ,respectively ,showed an increas‐ing trend .The main hVISA epidemic clone was ST239‐SCCmecIII‐ t030‐agrI type(28strains ,accounting for 87 .5% ) .Conclusion The detection rate of hVISA showed an increasing trend in the past 5 years ,should be paid attention to strictly control the utiliza‐tion of glycopeptide drugs .