Figure 3

Dynamic changes of the epidemic S. aureus clones in different wards in 2011. A-D: Dynamic changes of the top five most prevalent S. aureus clones in the ICU (A), the largest comprehensive surgical ward (B), and two large medical wards (C and D). E-F: PFGE profiles of the dominant STs recovered from the same wards. The PFGE profiles of ST239 recovered from the ICU (E). The PFGE profiles of ST5 recovered from medical ward 1 (F). The major DNA restriction pattern was named type A, and isolates with closely (1–3 fragment differences) or possibly related (4–6 fragment differences) restriction patterns were considered subtypes of A, and were designated type A1, type A2, and so on. Those with more than six fragment differences were regarded as type B.