IRS-PCR fingerprint of MRSA transmission among patients in a burn ward

Objective: to disseminate the possible transmission pathway of MRSA（methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus） between patients during a outbreak in a burn ward.Methods: we investigated the antimicrobial susceptibilities and IRS-PCR（infrequent restriction site-PCR） patterns of 6 MRSAs,which were isolated from the burn wound of patients,hands of doctor and nurse,other environmental surface in this ward,respectively.Results: It was demonstrated that all clinical and environmental MRSAs had no significant difference in susceptibility to 16 kinds of antibiotics and susceptible to Nitrofurantoin and Vancomycin.Nevertheless,the IRS-PCR patterns showed that MRSA from patients shared very high similarity（＞85%） with MRSA from the doctor’s hand but had less similarity with other MRSAs.Conclusion: The results suggested It is strongly evident that the MRSAs from different patients in this burn unit was transmitted through the doctor’s hand.IRS-PCR is a sensitive and reproducible tool with high discrimination power for epidemiological study on MRSA infection.Enhancement of infection control measures,like hand hygiene,is essential to reduce the incidence of MRSA infection.