Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) sequencing project

Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) causes significant morbidity and mortality in children. The course of MRSA ranges from a single episode of skin or soft tissue infection to repeated infections over a period months or years to the much less frequent, but life-threatening invasive infections such as sepsis, necrotizing pneumonia, and deep muscle or bone abscesses. Our objective is to seek a biological explanation for the wide spectrum of disease manifestations caused by CA-MRSA and to understand the presentation of severe infections in otherwise healthy children. This project will study both patient genomic DNA and isolated Staphylococcus aureus DNA for significant variants.