Increase in SCCmec type IV strains affects trends in antibiograms of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at a tertiary-care hospital

The prevalence of community-acquired meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) strains has become a serious problem worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the annual transitions of MRSA strains with the CA-MRSA feature, which were identified as SCCmec type IV or V, in a hospital setting in Japan. Between 2005 and 2012, MRSA strains were collected from a tertiary-care hospital in Tokyo, Japan, and SCCmec typing, detection of the virulence factors and antimicrobial susceptibility testing were conducted. The rate of detection of type II SCCmec, which is found mainly in healthcare-associated MRSA, significantly decreased from 90.0 (2005-2006) to 74.3 % (2011-2012) (P < 0.01). In contrast, the rate of detection of type IV SCCmec, which is mainly found in CA-MRSA, significantly increased from 5.8 (2005-2006) to 16.3 % (2011-2012) (P < 0.01). The rate of detection of the toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 gene significantly decreased from 66.7 (2005-2006) to 51.6 % (2011-2012) (P < 0.01), whilst that of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene significantly increased from 0.1 (2005-2006) to 2.1 % (2011-2012) (P < 0.01). The resistance rates of cefotaxime, levofloxacin, clarithromycin and minocycline decreased every year. The resistance rates of these antimicrobial agents for the SCCmec type IV or V strains were significantly lower than those for the SCCmec type I or II strains (P < 0.01, respectively). Therefore, these results suggest that the annual transitions of the virulence factors and antibiograms in MRSA are closely related to the increase of SCCmec type IV/V strains.