Correlation of Virulence Determinants of Staphylococcus aureus to the Severity of Diabetic Foot Ulcers in a Tertiary Care Centre, Egypt

Aim: This study aimed to estimate the correlation of the Staphylococcus aureus virulence determinants to the severity of the diabetic foot ulcers in patients admitted to diabetic foot Unit at Mansoura University Hospitals.

Study Design: A prospective study was performed.

Place of Study and Duration: This study was performed in diabetic foot Unit of Mansoura University hospital, Egypt.

Methodology: The study included 95 patients clinically diagnosed with diabetic foot ulcers from whom swabs were obtained from the foot lesions to be processed followed by detecting virulence determinants in isolated S. aureus by PCR.

Results: Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from 34 cases (35.8%). icaA, icaD, pvl and tst genes were detected in 61.8%, 67.6%, 53%, and 32.4% of S. aureus isolates respectively with higher prevalence in isolated strains from more severe infections and results were stastically significant. coa and clfA genes were positive 97.1% and 94.1% isolates respectively.

Conclusion: The results showed that the S. aureus strains causing infections in diabetic foot patients having genes: icaA, icaD, pvl and tst may be correlated to the severity of lesions whereas coa and clfA were not.