The use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) is revolutionising public health microbiology, and provides unique insights into how, when and where pathogens emerge and evolve. Using a series of ‘real-world’ case studies, this talk will demonstrate how we have used WGS to study staphylococci in hospital and community settings, and how the integration of clinical and genomic epidemiology provides a synergistic understanding of communicable diseases.
In particular, using a combination of phylogenetic models and comparative genomics, we will focus on three distinct scenarios: (i) a community epidemic of Staphylococcus aureus resistant to topical antimicrobial agents; (ii) the emergence of livestock-associated MRSA in Australasia, and (iii) the spread of resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci in neonatal intensive care units.