Characterization of MRSA in Canada from 2007 to 2016

This study assessed the demographic and molecular characteristics of community-associated (CA) and healthcare-associated (HA) MRSA genotypes in Canadian hospitals between 2007 and 2016. A total of 1963 MRSA were identified among 9103 Staphylococcus aureus isolates collected from inpatients and outpatients presenting to tertiary-care medical centres across Canada. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by broth microdilution in accordance with CLSI standards (M7 11th edition, 2018). PCR was performed to detect the Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL) genes and molecular analysis was performed by spa typing. Between 2007 and 2016, the annual proportion of S. aureus that were MRSA decreased from 26.1% to 16.9% (P