Method: A total of 89 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) [pus (n = 55), blood (n = 27), respiratory (n = 5), eye (n = 2)] isolates and 109 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) [pus (n = 79), blood (n = 24), respiratory (n = 3), eye (n = 2) and urine (n = 1)] isolates were subjected to spa typing with sequences analysed using BioNumerics version 7.
Results: The spa sequence was successfully amplified from 77.8% of the strains (154/198) and 47 known spa types were detected. The distribution of known spa types in MRSA (36.2%, 17/47) was less diverse than in MSSA (70.2%, 33/47). The most predominant spa types were t032 (50%) in MRSA, and t127 (19%) and t091 (16.7%) in MSSA, respectively. spa type t091 in MSSA was significantly associated with skin and soft tissue infections (p = 0.0199).
Conclusion: The previously uncommon spa type t032 was detected in the Malaysian MRSA strains, which also corresponded to the most common spa type in Europe and Australia, and has replaced the dominant spa type t037 which was reported in Malaysia in 2010.