A Panton-Valentine Leucocidin (PVL)-Positive Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Strain, Another Such Strain Carrying a Multiple-Drug Resistance Plasmid, and Other More-Typical PVL-Negative MRSA Strains Found in Japan

Abstract

ABSTRACT Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) was collected from children with bullous impetigo in 2003 and 2004. One strain collected in 2003 was Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL) positive. In 2004, a multiple-drug-resistant PVL + CA-MRSA strain was isolated from an athlete with a cutaneous abscess. These strains were analyzed by multilocus sequence typing, spa typing, agr typing, coagulase typing, staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCC mec ) typing, PCR assay for 30 virulence genes, drug susceptibility testing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and for plasmids. The two Japanese PVL + CA-MRSA strains belonged to the globally extant (“pandemic”) sequence type 30 (ST30) with SCC mec IV. A transmissible, multiple-drug resistance plasmid emerged in such ST30 strains. The PVL − CA-MRSA strains (“domestic” CA-MRSA) accumulated for bullous impetigo, exhibiting new genotypes. Hospital-acquired MRSA of ST91 (but not pandemic ST5) shared common features with the PVL − CA-MRSA strain.