Detection of panton-valentine leucosidine genes in staphylococcus aureus strains

The aim of this study is determine the presence of Panton Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) genes in methicilline resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains that originated from farm workers and dairy cows with Polimerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and to analyse the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) and Staphylococcal Protein A (spa) types of these isolates. The material of this study were consisted to 484 milk samples taken from 208 subclinic mastitic dairy cows and 90 nasal swabs taken from 56 dairy cows and 34 farm workers. As phenotypically, 18 MRSA isolates that were determined as methicilline resistant were also genetically confirmed as to be MRSA with the investigation of the methicilline resistant (mec) and S. aureus specific thermonuclease (TNase) (nuc) genes. The presence of PVL genes in this isolates was revealed with multiplex PCR using spesific primers. It was the first in this study that one isolate determined as PVL positive originated from bovine milk in Turkey. And SCCmec type of this isolates was determined as SCCmec Type IV while spa type determined as t044. To investigate the precise status of the infections caused by PVL positive MRSA strains in farm animals in Turkey further epidemiologic studies should be designed.