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Biomedical subjects

M E O C Heck

Publications and source records attributed to M E O C Heck.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Multiple cases of familial transmission of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The worldwide emergence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) can have severe public health implications. Familial transmissions of CA-MRSA in The Netherlands were investigated. Among the families studied, two clusters of CA-MRSA could be identified. This report demonstrates that family members can serve as reservoirs of CA-MRSA which may become a serious problem in containing the spread of MRSA.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Emergence of virulent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains carrying Panton-Valentine leucocidin genes in The Netherlands.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains carrying the Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL) genes have been reported worldwide and are a serious threat to public health. The PVL genes encode a highly potent toxin which is involved in severe skin infections and necrotizing pneumonia, even in previously healthy individuals. We assessed the prevalence of PVL-positive MRSA in The Netherlands for two periods of time: (i) 1987 through 1995 and (ii) 2000 and 2002, and determined their characteristics by using multilocus sequence typing and staphylococcal chromosome cassette (SCCmec) typing. It was found that up to 15% of all MRSA isolates detected in The Netherlands harbored the PVL genes. Most PVL-positive MRSA isolates were obtained from severe soft tissue infections in relatively young individuals. The first PVL-positive MRSA described in The Netherlands, isolated in 1988, was a single-locus variant of the "Berlin" epidemic MRSA clone. The 20 PVL-positive MRSA isolates studied in 2000 and 2002 consisted of five different sequence types (STs) that belonged to four clonal complexes. One of the STs, ST80, is considered to be a widespread European clone and was the most predominant ST (60%) in this study, while ST37 had never been found to be associated with PVL-positive MRSA. Most isolates harbored SCCmec type IV, a supposed marker for community-acquired MRSA. The number and type of virulence-associated genes varied among the different STs.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed2004

Methicillin-resistant staphylococci isolated from animals.

Staphylococci isolated from animals (n=311) were screened for methicillin resistance by oxacillin agar screening. Oxacillin-resistant strains were tested for the presence of the mecA gene by PCR. Isolates were identified by standard techniques and 16S rDNA analysis, and their antimicrobial susceptibilities were tested using an agar diffusion method. MecA-positive strains were further analyzed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). From 11 multidrug-resistant staphylococci, 6 were mecA-positive: 2 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 4 Staphylococcus haemolyticus. Screening of 300 staphylococci (100 S. aureus, 100 S. intermedius and 100 coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS)) randomly chosen from the strain collection of the Veterinary Microbiological Diagnostic Center yielded five oxacillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci, four of which were mecA-positive. PFGE showed that all mecA-positive staphylococci isolated from animals had distinct patterns. However, one MRSA isolated from a flank fistula of a dog showed homology to a human epidemic MRSA cluster, suggesting that transfer of MRSA between humans and dogs might occur.

Animal Diseases↗
PubMed2004

Widespread dissemination in The Netherlands of the epidemic berlin methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clone with low-level resistance to oxacillin.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important human pathogen and represents a growing public health burden due to the emergence and spread of epidemic strains, particularly within the hospital environment. An epidemic MRSA clone, with characteristic low-level resistance to oxacillin, emerged in the year 2000 and became endemic in the Netherlands. Multilocus sequence typing characterized the strain as sequence type 45, which was previously designated the Berlin epidemic MRSA clone. In 2 years, this strain has become the predominant MRSA clone in the Netherlands.

Drug Resistance, Bacterial↗
PubMed2004

Panton-Valentine leukocidin positive MRSA in 2003: the Dutch situation.

Analysis of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates in the Netherlands in 2003 revealed that 8% of the hospital isolates carried the loci for Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL). Molecular subtyping showed that most Dutch PVL-MRSA genotypes corresponded to well-documented global epidemic types. The most common PVL-MRSA genotypes were sequence type ST8, ST22, ST30, ST59 and ST80. MRSA with ST8 increased in the Netherlands from 1% in 2002 to 17% in 2003. It is emphasised that PVL-MRSA might not only emerge in the community, but also in the hospital environment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Sero types, phage types and antibiotic susceptibilities of Salmonella strains isolated from horses in The Netherlands from 1993 to 2000.

We studied 232 Salmonella strains from horses with salmonellosis in The Netherlands, isolated in the period from 1993 to 2000 in order to provide insight in the dynamics of sero-, phage types (pt) and antibiotic susceptibilities over time. The strains were tested for susceptibility to seven antimicrobial agents using the agar diffusion method. In addition, the isolates were sero typed and Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica Typhimurium and Enteritidis strains were further phage typed. S. Typhimurium strains of phage type 506 and 401 (both classified as DT 104 in the English phage typing system) were additionally tested for their susceptibility to chloramphenicol (C), streptomycin (S) and sulfonamides (Su). Resistance was common against tetracycline and ampicillin. Most strains were susceptible to enrofloxacin (Enr) and ceftiofur (Cef). Resistance to tetracycline (T), kanamycin (K), ampicillin (A) and trimethoprim/sulfonamide (Sxt) combinations decreased from 1993 to 2000, whereas the resistance to gentamicin (G), ceftiofur and enrofloxacin was stable over time. S. Typhimurium was the predominant serovar and showed more (multiple) resistance compared to other Salmonella serovars. Sixteen different resistance patterns were found, with resistance to T alone and the combination of ACSSuT and AKSxtT being the most common. The multiresistant S. typhimurium phage type 506 (DT 104) was the most common phage type isolated from horses and most of these strains showed the pentadrug resistance pattern ACSSuT. The S. Typhimurium phage type 401 (DT 104) was also found frequently with an ASSuT resistance pattern. The most common S. Typhimurium phage types in horses corresponded with those found in humans, pigs and cattle in the same period in The Netherlands.

Animals↗