Aims: Diabetic foot infections (DFIs) represent one of the most important risk factors for lower extremity amputation. One of the major infection agents that causes DFIs is Staphylococcus aureus. Staphylococcus aureus is an important human pathogen causing variety of clinical manifestations which can lead to invasive infections, sepsis and even death. Outcomes of antibiotic treatment of diabetic foot infections may depend not only on the antimicrobial susceptibility of the etiological agents, but also their ability to produce diverse virulence factors. This study was aimed to investigate biofilm production and the presence of various virulence genes among Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) isolates obtained from patients with DFIs. Methodology and results: A total of 48 clinical MRSA and MSSA isolates obtained from diabetic foot patients were studied for their biofilm formation and the presence of 29 known virulence genes. The biofilm formation was observed, analyzed and quantified using the microtiter plate method. Biofilm production was observed as 95.50% and 92.00% in the MRSA and MSSA isolates, respectively. Among the 29 virulence genes tested on the 48 clinical isolates, 19 virulence genes were detected. It was found that aap (62.50%), etd (54.17%), icaD (50.00%), aae (50.00%), seh (31.25%) and icaADB (22.92%) were the most prevalent genes. A total of 10 virulence genes (etb, gehD, icaB, icaC, seb, hla_haem, hld_epid, altE, fbe and sesI) were absent in all the isolates used. Conclusion, significance and impact of study Virulence genes play important role in clinical infections. Our results showed the presence rates of biofilm formation and accumulation-associated factors that are high among MRSA as well as MSSA isolates from DFIs. These results confirmed the importance of biofilm formation as regarded for DFIs.
Methicillin Resistance ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Diabetic Foot