asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many examples have been found in humans in England and Wales of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus which is non-typeable by pulsed field gel electrophoresis; and how this figure compares with the situation in Scotland and in Northern Ireland. [HL208]

The Health Protection Agency's staphylococcus reference laboratory has not, so far, identified any methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which have been non-typeable by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

The Scottish reference laboratory has done PFGE typing on all patient isolates of MRSA referred in the past three years—about 7,000 isolates a year. Two patient isolates, both referred in 2007, have been non-typeable by standard PFGE methods.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Approximately how many community-acquired strains of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus have been analysed by the national staphylococcus reference laboratories in the United Kingdom during the past year. [HL209]

Community-associated methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are more likely to produce panton-valentine leukocidin (PVL) than hospital-associated MRSA, and this is used as a proxy for community infections. The Health Protection Agency's staphylococcus reference laboratory (SRL) has been actively screening isolates for PVL in England and Wale s since 2005.

In 2005, 1,281 were tested and 117 were identified as PVL-MRSA. In 2006, 1,755 were tested and 159 were identified as PVL-MRSA.

The Scottish reference laboratory looks for the PVL gene in all MRSA isolates which have antibiotic susceptibility patterns suggesting that they might be of community-type (and in a few others).

In 2005, 300 were tested and 71 were positive.

In 2006, 481 were tested and 93 were positive.

So far in 2007, 483 have been tested and 116 have been positive. Duplicates have not been excluded from these figures.