Staphylococcus aureus ‘Down Under’: contemporary epidemiology of S. aureus in Australia, New Zealand, and the South West Pacific

The clinical and molecular epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus disease has changed considerably over the past two decades, particularly with the emergence and spread of community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) clones. Indeed, some of the first global descriptions of CA-MRSA w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical microbiology and infection 2014-07, Vol.20 (7), p.597-604
Main Authors: Williamson, D.A., Coombs, G.W., Nimmo, G.R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia - epidemiology
Community-Acquired Infections - epidemiology
Community-Acquired Infections - microbiology
Epidemiology
Humans
indigenous health
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Molecular Epidemiology
New Zealand - epidemiology
Pacific Islands - epidemiology
Staphylococcal Infections - epidemiology
Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology
Staphylococcus aureus
Staphylococcus aureus - classification
Staphylococcus aureus - genetics
Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The clinical and molecular epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus disease has changed considerably over the past two decades, particularly with the emergence and spread of community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) clones. Indeed, some of the first global descriptions of CA-MRSA were from remote indigenous communities in Western Australia, and from Pacific Peoples in New Zealand. The epidemiology of S. aureus infections in the South West Pacific has several unique features, largely because of the relative geographical isolation and unique indigenous communities residing in this region. In particular, a number of distinct CA-MRSA clones circulate in Australia and New Zealand, such as sequence type (ST) 93 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) (Queensland clone) and clonal complex 75 S. aureus (Staphylococcus argenteus) in Australia, and ST30 MRSA (Southwest Pacific clone) in New Zealand. In addition, there is a disproportionate burden of S. aureus disease in indigenous paediatric populations, particularly in remote Aboriginal communities in Australia, and in Pacific Peoples and Maori in New Zealand. In this review, we provide a contemporary overview of the clinical and molecular epidemiology of S. aureus disease in the South West Pacific region, with a particular focus on features distinct to this region.
ISSN:1198-743X
1469-0691
DOI:10.1111/1469-0691.12702