Genetic characteristics were analysed for recent clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant and -susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA and
MSSA respectively) in Kathmandu, Nepal. MRSA isolates harbouring Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes were classified into ST1,
ST22 and ST88 with SCCmec-IV and ST772 with SCCmec-V (Bengal Bay clone), while PVL-positive MSSA into ST22, ST30 and ST772.
ST22 isolates (PVL-positive MRSA and MSSA, PVL-negative MRSA) possessed a variant of elastin binding protein gene (ebpS) with an
internal deletion of 180 bp, which was similar to that reported for ST121 S. aureus previously outside Nepal. Phylogenetic analysis
indicated that the ebpS variant in ST22 might have occurred independently of ST121 strains. This is the first report of ST772 PVLpositive
MRSA in Nepal and detection of the deletion variant of ebpS in ST22 S. aureus.
New Microbes and New Infections © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of European Society of Clinical Microbiology and
Infectious Diseases.
Keywords: Bengal Bay clone, elastin b