Molecular Characterization of lukSF-PV+ MRSA

Fifty-one consecutive, nonduplicate lukSF-PV⁺ MRSA isolates from various clinical specimens of individual patients were obtained from Zhejiang Xiaoshan Hospital (a tertiary hospital), Hangzhou City, China. The isolates were collected between January 2010 and December 2011 and identified using VITEK 32 instrument (bioMérieux, Marcy l′ Etoile, France). Methicillin resistance was determined using the Kirby–Bauer method with cefoxitin disk (30 µg, Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK) and PCR for mecA^{33 ,34 (link)}. All isolates had been previously described by PVL isoform detection and PFGE-SCCmec-MLST typing (including CC) (Table 1)^{35 (link)}. The strains ATCC 49775 and MRSA N315 were used as positive and negative controls for the PVL production, respectively.