Emergence in Asian countries of Staphylococcus aureus with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin.
To investigate the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin among methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains in Asian countries, a total of 1,357 clinical isolates of MRSA collected from 12 Asian countries were screened by using brain heart infusion agar plates containing 4 mg of vancomycin per liter. The presence of strains that were heterointermediately resistant to vancomycin (hVISA) was confirmed by population analysis. Of 347 (25.6%) MRSA isolates that grew on the screening agar plates, 58 isolates (4.3%) were hVISA. hVISA strains were found in India, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. However, neither vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus nor vancomycin-resistant S. aureus isolates were found among MRSA isolates from Asian countries in this survey.
Song
Jae-Hoon
JH
Division of Infectious Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea. jhsong@smc.samsung.co.kr
Hiramatsu
Keiichi
K
Suh
Ji Yoeun
JY
Ko
Kwan Soo
KS
Ito
Teruyo
T
Kapi
Maria
M
Kiem
Sungmin
S
Kim
Yeon-Sook
YS
Oh
Won Sup
WS
Peck
Kyong Ran
KR
Lee
Nam Yong
NY
D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011153:Population; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects*; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance