Classroom Prevalence of Methicillin Resistant Coagulase-Negative Staphylococcus Species Isolated Students

Presenter Information

Samantha Holien, Minnesota State University - Mankato

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

20-4-2015 10:00 AM

End Date

20-4-2015 11:30 AM

Student's Major

Biological Sciences

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Timothy Secott

Mentor's Email Address

timothy.secott@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Biological Sciences

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is becoming more prevalent in the population, specifically in clinical settings. Because Staphylococcus aureus is a virulent organism (i.e., it expresses the enzyme coagulase), methicillin resistance in this species is of particular concern. However, focusing on resistance in this organism only can underestimate the overall prevalence of the resistance gene, mecA, which can be harbored by “avirulent” (coagulase-negative) species. Four out of thirty coagulase-negative Staphylococcus isolates recovered from students participating in a class exercise in Medical Microbiology in 2014 were observed to grow in the presence of oxacillin, which is used to detect methicillin resistance. These isolates will be identified to species and tested to determine the minimum concentration of oxacillin necessary for growth inhibition. In addition these isolates will subjected to Polymerase Chain Reaction testing for the presence of the mecA gene. The results of this study will be compared with those from an earlier investigation from this lab in order to obtain a broader view of the distribution of methicillin resistance genes in southern Minnesota.