RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Our retrospective investigation of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection at a hospital in Japan around 2007 suggested dissemination of community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) strains among healthy students in a Japanese boarding school, which frequently caused skin disease and exhibited the same antibiogram patterns. METHODS: Active surveillance of skin diseases for 6 months after May 2008, examination of MRSA carriage in selected high-risk groups, and investigation of their life circumstances, including environmental cultures, were conducted in the school. Furthermore, we strengthened hygiene practices and improved recognized risk factors from November 2008 and observed the occurrence of skin diseases and MRSA carriage rate for the evaluation of infection controls. RESULTS: We identified 21 patients with skin diseases in whom MRSA strains were isolated. MRSA colonization rates in 3 selected groups ranged from 7.6% to 36.6%. The rates of both skin disease and MRSA carriage decreased significantly after infection controls were introduced. Genetic analysis revealed a main dissemination of a PVL-positive SCCmec IVc clone (41/47 isolates in total), presenting as a different pulsed-field type than USA300. CONCLUSION: This first report of a PVL-positive CA-MRSA outbreak in Japan demonstrates systematic management of dissemination by conducting surveillance in a closed community.
Asunto(s)
Toxinas Bacterianas/genética , Brotes de Enfermedades , Exotoxinas/genética , Control de Infecciones/métodos , Leucocidinas/genética , Staphylococcus aureus Resistente a Meticilina/aislamiento & purificación , Infecciones Cutáneas Estafilocócicas/epidemiología , Infecciones Cutáneas Estafilocócicas/prevención & control , Factores de Virulencia/genética , Adolescente , Adulto , Técnicas de Tipificación Bacteriana , Portador Sano/epidemiología , Portador Sano/microbiología , Portador Sano/prevención & control , Análisis por Conglomerados , Microbiología Ambiental , Genotipo , Humanos , Higiene , Japón , Masculino , Staphylococcus aureus Resistente a Meticilina/clasificación , Staphylococcus aureus Resistente a Meticilina/efectos de los fármacos , Staphylococcus aureus Resistente a Meticilina/patogenicidad , Pruebas de Sensibilidad Microbiana , Factores de Riesgo , Instituciones Académicas , Infecciones Cutáneas Estafilocócicas/microbiologíaRESUMEN
We report a case of epidural abscess caused by community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) strain USA300 in a previously healthy 25-year-old American woman who lived in Japan for more than 1 year. She started to complain of severe headache that continued for about 10 days after improvement of subcutaneous abscesses caused by MRSA. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed epidural abscess. As epidural abscess was not improved by treatment with vancomycin and ceftriaxone, craniotomy and drainage were performed, and the severe headache disappeared. Characteristics of the MRSA strain isolated from the abscess were identical to those of strain USA300; multilocus sequence typing sequence type 8, staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec type IVa, Panton-Valentine leukocidin positive, arginine catabolic mobile element positive, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis type USA300. This may be the first report of epidural abscess caused by USA300 strain in Japan. Because CA-MRSA strains, including USA300, have begun to spread in Japan, epidural abscess should be taken into account in the diagnosis of previously healthy patients with persistent headache accompanied by skin lesions.
