Panton-Valentine Leukocidin-Positive CC398 MRSA in Urban Clinical Settings, the Netherlands

Abstract

We report detection of Panton-Valentine leukocidin-positive clonal complex 398 human-origin methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus L2 in the Netherlands. This hypervirulent lineage originated in the Asia-Pacific Region and could become community-acquired in Europe after recurrent travel-related introductions. Genomic surveillance enables early detection to guide control measures and help limit spread of pathogens in urban settings.

Keywords: MRSA and other staphylococci; Panton-Valentine leukocidin; Staphylococcus aureus; antimicrobial resistance; bacteria; healthcare-associated infections; the Netherlands.

Figure

Maximum-parsimony tree of Panton-Valentine leukocidin–positive CC398 MRSA detected in urban clinical settings, the Netherlands. Bold text indicates 3 HO-MRSA strains detected in this study, which we deposited in GenBank (accession nos. SRR21673410 for L2-P01, SRR21624599 for L2-P02, and SRR21673965 for L2-P03); those strains were compared with 27 CC398 Staphylococcus aureus strains from GenBank. The tree was constructed by using GenBank accession no. AM990992.1 as a reference strain, and then rooted and grouped into clades, as previously described (1). Scale bar indicates nucleotide substitutions per 100 sites based on a concatenated alignment of 3,878 high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms. HO-MRSA, human-origin MRSA; LA-MRSA, livestock-associated MRSA; MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; MSSA, methicillin-susceptible S. aureus; ST, sequence type.