Genetic Diversity of the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates Circulating in Fako Division, South West Region, Cameroon

Abstract

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the leading causes of hospital- and community-associated infections impacting national and global health. In recent years, MRSA has been detected in livestock species and their products. WHO has MRSA among the top 24 priority pathogens in 2024, posing the greatest threats to human health. Aim: To characterise the SCCmec elements and investigate the genetic diversity of MRSA strains recovered from different sources in Fako. Study Design: A laboratory-based cross-sectional study. Place and Duration: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, and Laboratory for Emerging Infectious Diseases, University of Buea, between June 2022 and September 2024. Methodology: The study characterised 76 MRSA strains from diverse sources in Fako to identify the SCCmec types by conventional and multiplex PCR assay. Additionally, the mecA gene amplicons of some strains was sequenced. The sequences were analysed and uploaded to the NCBI-Genbank. Results: SCCmec type IV was most prevalent (57.9%), followed by type V (21.1%). All the sequences revealed high sequence identity when compared to those available on NCBI using the BLASTN. The sequences showed significant genetic similarity, ranging from 99.1% to 100% for the nucleotides and 98.6% to 100% for the amino acids. Compared with reference sequences retrieved from GenBank, similarity ranged from 98.2% to 100% and 97.9% to 100%, respectively. Conclusion: Detecting diverse SCCmec types in the MRSA strains denotes the complexity of MRSA epidemiology in Fako. Our findings indicate a risk for the transmission of MRSA across different sources, thus highlighting the need for a One Health approach to MRSA prevention and control. GenBank assigned the accession numbers OP042343 to OP042352 for HA-MRSA, OP042356 to OP042361, OP042363, and OP716861 to OP716868 for LA-MRSA, and OP716859 to OP716860 for CA-MRSA were assigned.