Investigating the Panton-Valentine Leukocidin Gene in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus from Diabetic Foot Infections

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a significant pathogen associated with multidrug infections among diabetic foot infections. The Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (pvl) gene is an MRSA marker frequently present in community-acquired infections; it causes deep skin and soft tissue infections and osteomyelitis. Objectives: This study aimed to detect the prevalence of the PVL gene in MRSA isolates. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study conducted from August 2023 to January 2024 investigated MRSA in 150 patients with DFIs at As-in Al-Manathira Hospital in Al-Najaf, Iraq. The S. aureus isolates were diagnosed using the Vitek® 2 technique. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolates were detected by a phenotypic method depending on cefoxitin disk diffusion and confirmed by a genotypic method by PCR targeting the mecA, and then the pvl gene was investigated. The genotypic methods employed particularly primers targeting the macA gene and pvl gene using the monoplex PCR technique. Results: The findings demonstrated that 95 (93.1%) of the 102 S. aureus isolates were resistant to cefoxitin, and according to the findings of the molecular study, only 96 (94.11%) isolates showed the mecA gene. Regarding the pvl gene, 97 (95.09%) of isolates produced positive findings. Conclusions: Diabetic foot infections exhibited a significantly high presence of the pvl gene within MRSA strains. These were confirmed using PCR, the gold standard method for detecting the mecA gene associated with methicillin resistance.