CC1 appears find more to be evolving along with the agr locus rapidly with numerous recombinations which is unusual, as agr types are usually uniform in a CC. ST672 has not been AZD6244 cell line reported from any of the Asian countries till now. The MLST data base reports one isolate from Australia and one from U.S. It appears important to determine if this clone will persist as a minor clone or not. ST772 and ST672 MRSA isolates carried the same composite type V SCCmec elements unlike the ones carried by ST1208 isolates (Table 2). Among the numerous results obtained by the microarrays, collagen binding adhesion (cna) was absent in ST672 and present in 772 (raw data of microarray provided). The

capsular polysaccharide types 8 and 5 were present in ST672 and 772 respectively. The large diversity in the STs present in the MSSA isolates confirmed the highly diverse MSSA population reported

from Shanghai, China, recently which included ST5, 6, 7, 30 and 121 isolates Tucidinostat along with others [22]. The probability of MSSA conversion to MRSA is perhaps high in India with the over use of antibiotics and its spread due to inadequate hygienic practices. High prevalence of PVL and egc among the Indian MSSA and MRSA isolates is unlike the situation in Bangladesh, and Indonesia where only MSSA isolates contain PVL [12, 23]. This indicates a possibility of PVL positive MSSA acquiring SCCmec elements to become PVL positive MRSA although this needs to be confirmed. A combination of PVL egc along with other entero-toxins could increase the severity of diseases caused by S. aureus although the role of PVL and other toxins is not completely elucidated [24, 25]. There were no differences in the presence of the different virulence factors we Tangeritin characterized among the carrier isolates or the patient isolates. Conclusion This paper reports detailed molecular analysis of S. aureus isolates collected from different Indian cities and

environments with their virulence factors for the first time. We have identified new and emerging STs as MRSA in addition to already reported ones in healthy carriers as well as patients. There are variant types of type IV and V SCCmec elements among MRSA. There is more diversity among the STs found in MSSA which may have the potential to acquire methicillin resistance. Majority of these isolates are PVL and egc positive. The detailed analysis of virulence factors might help in understanding of diseases caused and influence of host factors in those diseases. Methods Isolates and patients Sixty eight S. aureus isolates were included in this study, 38 from healthy nasal carriers and 30 from infection sites. Isolates collected from nasal carriers from rural community and urban population between 2006 and 2008 were cultured. Carriers had no identified risk factors for MRSA acquisition which included prior hospitalization, use of antibiotics, and surgeries in the past year.