The emergence of mecC methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Trends Microbiol. 2014 Jan;22(1):42-7. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2013.11.003. Epub 2013 Dec 9.

Abstract

The report of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) encoding a divergent mecA gene in 2011 was highly significant. This homologue, designated mecC, poses diagnostic problems with the potential to be misdiagnosed as methicillin-sensitive S. aureus, with important potential consequences for individual patients and for the surveillance of MRSA. mecC MRSA have now been reported from 13 European countries and have been isolated from 14 different host species, with evidence of a recent increase in Denmark. The emergence of mecC MRSA is a topic of interest to human and veterinary microbiology, and we consider it timely to review here its discovery and subsequent investigation.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance; genome sequencing; mecC; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA); molecular epidemiology; zoonosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Diagnostic Errors
  • Europe / epidemiology
  • Genes, Bacterial*
  • Humans
  • Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / drug effects
  • Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / genetics
  • Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / isolation & purification*
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Staphylococcal Infections / microbiology*
  • Staphylococcal Infections / veterinary*