Hospital and community acquired methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus infections and their association with panton-valentine leukocidin gene

ABSTRACT

Methicillin resistant S. aureus [MRSA], besides having established itself as a major hospital pathogen, is now beginning to prevail in the community. However, several notable differences were found to exist between hospital acquired strains [HA-MRSA] and community acquired strains [CA-MRSA]. Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene [PVL] is a cytotoxin which was found to represents an important virulence factor in some strains of S. aureus which cause some sorts of severe infections. The aims of this study were to assess the association of PVL gene with HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA and the role of this gene in pathogenesis of these infections