title: Detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with high-level resistance to mupirocin.
abstract: Staphylococcus aureus with high-level mupirocin resistance has rarely been isolated in Japan. We detected methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) with high-level mupirocin resistance (HLMR-MRSA; MIC ≥1,024 μg/ml) in a surveillance program of invasive MRSA infection in the Minami Ibaraki Area of Japan. The other 177 strains surveyed in the program showed susceptibility or low-level resistance to mupirocin. The HLMR-MRSA strain, named 115, was isolated from the blood of a patient with peripheral venous catheter-associated infection. The patient had not received administration of mupirocin before the isolation of strain 115. Another HLMR-MRSA strain, named 257, was recovered from the patient's sputum obtained 1 year after the infection. Close relatedness between genotypes of strains 115 and 257 indicated persistent colonization of strain 115 on the patient. In contrast, no HLMR-MRSA was detected in materials submitted from other inpatients treated in the same wards during the same period, demonstrating that horizontal transmission of HLMR-MRSA did not occur.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Tsukuba University Hospital, Tsukuba, Japan.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Shigemi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hitomi
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kurihara
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D016712:Mupirocin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D016712:Mupirocin