Occurrence of the Enterotoxin Gene Cluster and the Toxic Shock Syndrome Toxin 1 Gene among Clinical Isolates of Methicillin-Resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> Is Related to Clonal Type and <i>agr</i> Group

Abstract

Analysis of 177 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains for the presence of egc and tst revealed that 60 strains carried at least one of the tested genes. MRSA strains were classified by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis into four clones belonging to agr groups I and III. Toxin genotypes were related by clonal type and agr group.