Identification and discrimination of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from burn wound sites using PCR and authentication with MALDI-TOF-MS

Abstract

The present study demonstrates isolation and identification of methicillin resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains in the samples collected from burn patients. About 106 swab samples were collected from burn patients of >40% burn injury and were subjected to isolation using nutrient agar followed by screening using Me Re Sa selective medium agar. A total of 10 isolates with identity to S. aureus were obtained and further authenticated using Polymerase Chain Reaction and matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry analysis. Presence of mec A gene and the peak pattern observations suggested seven of the 10 isolates are MRSA. Thus, the present study emphasizes the process of identification of MRSA using two different bio-analytical techniques, which authenticate the presence of MRSA.