Abstract
Background. Recent worldwide reports of community-onset skin abscesses, outbreaks of furunculosis, and severe pneumonia associated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carrying Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes and the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) type IV indicate that MRSA infections are evolving into a community-related problem. The majority of cases reported to date involve skin and soft-tissue infections, with severe pneumonia representing a relatively rare phenomenon. During a 2-month period in the winter of 2003-2004, four healthy adults presented to 1 of 2 Baltimore hospitals with severe necrotizing MRSA pneumonia in the absence of typical risk factors for MRSA infection. Methods. Patients' MRSA isolates were characterized by strain typing with use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and SCCmec typing with use of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and detection of PVL genes by PCR. Results. All 4 patients' MRSA isolates carried the PVL genes and the SCCmec type IV element and belonged to the USA300 pulsed-field type. These 3 findings are among the typical characteristics of community-onset MRSA strains. In addition, 2 of our patients had concomitant influenza A diagnosed, which likely contributed to the severity of their presentation. Conclusions. To our knowledge, these patients represent the first reported North American adults with severe community-onset MRSA pneumonia caused by strains carrying the PVL genes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 100-107 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Clinical Infectious Diseases |
Volume | 40 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2005 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology (medical)
- Infectious Diseases