TY - JOUR T1 - Late-breaking abstract: Molecular and phenotypic characters of methicillin-resistant <em>staphylococcus</em> <em>aureus</em> isolates from patients with empyema thoracis in Central Taiwan JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P1811 AU - Yi-Wen Huang AU - Chang-Yao Tsao AU - Wei-Yao Wang AU - Shin-Ming Tsao Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1811.abstract N2 - Background: Staphylococcus aureus had been isolated from patients with severe infections and empyema. . The goals were to delineate the molecular and phenotypic characters of MRSA isolated from patients with empyema thoracis.in central taiwanMethods: MRSA isolates from pleural effusion of patients with empyema were collected from March, 2012 to Feb, 2014 and were typed with PCR and nucleotide sequencing based on polymorphisms in staphylococcal cassette chromosome , multilocus sequence type , X region on protein A (spa), and direct repeat units . Phenotypes were characterized with antibiogram by disc diffusion and MIC to vancomycin by agar dilution.Results: Totally 19 non-duplicate MRSA isolates with mecA from patients with empyema were analyzed. The mean and range of MIC to VA were 2.13 and 2 to 3 mg/L, respectively. Multidrug resistance, defined as resistance to more than or equal to 3 kinds of antibiotics other than ƒÀ-lactam by disc diffusion method, was found in 15 (78.9%) isolates. The isolates were typed as followed (no.%): ST5-SCCmecII-spa (6, 31.2%); ST239 and its SLV-SCCmecIII-spa (6, 31.2%); SCCmecIV-ST573-spa (2, 10.5%), SCCmecIV-ST8 and its SLV-spa (2, 10.5%), ST59-SCCmecIV or VT-spa(2, 10.5%); and SCCmecV with untypable ST and spa types (1, 5.3%).Conclusions: Diverse molecular types with high rate of multidrug resistance and elevated MIC to vancomycin were found in 19 MRSA isolates from patient with empyema. Further attempts including Panton-Valentine leukocidin and superantigenic toxins identification will help in delineating the correlation between molecular types and phenotypes of MRSA in patients with empyema. ER -