European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology
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Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. · Aug 2016
Multicenter StudyEmergence of Panton-Valentine leucocidin-positive ST8-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (USA300 clone) in Korea causing healthcare-associated and hospital-acquired bacteraemia.
Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL)-positive sequence type (ST)8-MRSA-SCCmec IVa (USA300) is the epidemic strain of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) in North America. USA300 is extremely rare in South Korea, and PVL-negative ST72 SCCmec type IVc is the predominant CA-MRSA clone. In a multicentre, prospective cohort study of S. aureus bacteraemia, we identified PVL-positive ST8-MRSA isolates by performing multilocus sequence typing and PCR for PVL. ⋯ All the isolates were pulsed-field type USA300. This is the first report of healthcare-associated and hospital-acquired bacteraemia caused by USA300 in South Korea. USA300 seems to be an emerging hospital clone in this country.