Abstract

Mohamed Elazhari *, Driss Elhabchi, Khalid Zerouali, Noureddine Dersi, Jean David Perrier-Gros-Claude, Sanaa Bouhali Zriouil, Mohammed Hassar, Rachid Saile, and Mohammed Timinouni

Fusidic acid -resistant Staphylococcus aureus is poorly documented in community acquired infections in Morocco. From 1st January, 2007 - 31 October, 2008, we collected 140 S. aureus isolates at Institute Pasteur, Casablanca, 18 of them exhibited resistance to fusidic acid and were negative for gene encoding methicillin resistance (mecA). seh toxin gene was found in 14 strains (14/18) along with an accessory gene regulator (agr) group III, 9 of them were found with two other toxin genes (sek plus seq). In conclusion, we found a close relationship between the presence of the seh gene and the possession of agr group III in fusidic acid-resistant methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (FAR-MSSA) strains. In addition, our results indicate a relationship between 6 FAR -MSSA strains belonging to the same pulsotype and harbouring agr group III with luk -PV toxin genes.