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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2005, p. 3341-3345, Vol. 43, No. 7
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.7.3341-3345.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Emergence of Virulent Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Strains Carrying Panton-Valentine Leucocidin Genes in The Netherlands

W. J. B. Wannet,1* E. Spalburg,1 M. E. O. C. Heck,1 G. N. Pluister,1 E. Tiemersma,1 R. J. L. Willems,1,{dagger} X. W. Huijsdens,1 A. J. de Neeling,1 and J. Etienne2

National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands,1 Centre National de Référence des Staphylococques, INSERM E0230, IFR62, Faculté de Médecine Laennec, Lyon, France2

Received 10 December 2004/ Returned for modification 18 January 2005/ Accepted 10 March 2005

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains carrying the Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL) genes have been reported worldwide and are a serious threat to public health. The PVL genes encode a highly potent toxin which is involved in severe skin infections and necrotizing pneumonia, even in previously healthy individuals. We assessed the prevalence of PVL-positive MRSA in The Netherlands for two periods of time: (i) 1987 through 1995 and (ii) 2000 and 2002, and determined their characteristics by using multilocus sequence typing and staphylococcal chromosome cassette (SCCmec) typing. It was found that up to 15% of all MRSA isolates detected in The Netherlands harbored the PVL genes. Most PVL-positive MRSA isolates were obtained from severe soft tissue infections in relatively young individuals. The first PVL-positive MRSA described in The Netherlands, isolated in 1988, was a single-locus variant of the "Berlin" epidemic MRSA clone. The 20 PVL-positive MRSA isolates studied in 2000 and 2002 consisted of five different sequence types (STs) that belonged to four clonal complexes. One of the STs, ST80, is considered to be a widespread European clone and was the most predominant ST (60%) in this study, while ST37 had never been found to be associated with PVL-positive MRSA. Most isolates harbored SCCmec type IV, a supposed marker for community-acquired MRSA. The number and type of virulence-associated genes varied among the different STs.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Diagnostic Laboratory for Infectious Diseases and Perinatal Screening, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands. Phone: 31 30 2742105. Fax: 31 30 2744418. E-mail: wim.wannet{at}rivm.nl.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Acute Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2005, p. 3341-3345, Vol. 43, No. 7
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.7.3341-3345.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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