Abstract
<h3>Background</h3> Methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA) is one of the most frequent causes of hospital-associated (HA-MRSA) and community-associated (CA-MRSA) infections. It is also seen in the livestock population (livestock-associated MRSA). The emergence of bovine and human MRSA isolates carrying a new (SCCmec) element (type XI) introduced a new challenge for clinical microbiologists. This new SCCmec element contains a novel <i>mecA</i> homologue designated <i>mecC</i> (formerly known as mecA<sub>LGA251</sub>) which is undetectable by conventional molecular approaches. <h3>Aim</h3> The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of <i>mecC</i> in Australia using a quadruplex real-time PCR described by Pichon <i>et al</i>.<sup>1</sup> that detects nuc, mecA, lukS-PV and <i>mecC</i> gene. <h3>Results</h3> The assay was validated using 70 samples and no interference was observed when samples were run in singleplex and multiplex with no significant change in the C(t) values. The introduction of a synthetic <i>mecC</i> shows no interference with the performance of the other primers. Following successful validation, the quadruplex real-time PCR assay will be used to screen for nuc, mecA, lukS-PV and <i>mecC</i> The results will be discussed further as data are being collected.
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