Clonal change of methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from patients with impetigo in Kagawa, Japan

: Recently, the USA300 clone, which is a Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)-positive clonal complex 8-staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec type IV (CC8-IV) community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) strain, emerged in community and hospital settings in Japan. Hence, clonal types of CA-MRSA strains are predicted to be changing. Nonetheless, long-term surveillance of CA-MRSA has not been conducted in Japan. Here, we investigated the transition and current status of CA-MRSA strains isolated from outpatients with impetigo; the samples were collected between 2007 and 2016 in Kagawa, Japan. The detection rate (22.8%, 488/2139 strains) of MRSA slightly decreased in these 10 years. Molecular epidemiological analyses showed that the prevalence of the CC89-II clone, which is a typical CA-MRSA genotype of causative agents of impetigo, significantly decreased from 48.0% (48/100 strains) in 2007-2009 to 21.9% (16/73 strains) in 2013-2016. By contrast, a non-USA300 CC8-IV clone, which is a highly pathogenic CA-MRSA/J clone, significantly increased in prevalence from 9.0% (9/100 strains) to 32.9% (24/73 strains). The prevalence of PVL-positive CA-MRSA strains increased annually from 2012 (0%) to 2015 (6.7%), whereas only one of these strains turned out to be the USA300 clone. Antibiotic susceptibility data revealed that the rates of resistance to gentamicin and clindamycin among CA-MRSA strains decreased along with the decreased prevalence of the CC89-II clone and increased prevalence of the CA-MRSA/J clone. Our data strongly suggest that the clonal types and antibiotic susceptibility of CA-MRSA isolated from patients with impetigo dramatically changed during the last 10 years in Japan.