Staphylococcal cassette chromosomemec(SCCmec) in methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci. A review and the experience in a tertiary-care setting

Abstract

SUMMARYCoagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are increasingly recognized to cause clinically significant infections, withS. epidermidisoften cited as the third most common cause of nosocomial sepsis. Among CNS, there is a high prevalence of methicillin resistance associated with staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCCmec) elements. Although identical SCCmectypes can exist inS. aureusand CNS, some novel classes of SCCmecmay be unique to CNS. Differences in the accuracy of identification of CNS species and use of non-standardized methods for the detection of methicillin resistance have led to confusing data in the literature. In addition to the review of SCCmecin CNS, in this paper we report a 2-year surveillance of methicillin-resistant CNS in a tertiary-care hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico.