Possible Dissemination of a Panton-Valentine Leukocidin–Positive Livestock-Associated Methicillin-Resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> CC398 Clone in Tokyo, Japan

In the last decade, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been identified in livestock animals, such as swine, poultry, and veal calves, termed livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA). LA-MRSA sequence type (ST) 398 strains can effectively infect colonize humans, with subsequent human-to-human transmission both community hospital settings. Unlike other countries, had not reported Japanese patients until 2019. However, we recently a case of intractable arthritis caused by an CC398 (ST1232) clone, which is single-locus variant ST398, patient Tokyo, Japan, no animal contact (Nakaminami H, et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2020; 26: 795-7.). Uniquely, strain was positive for Panton-Valentine leukocidin. Here, report second Japan. To prevent dissemination community, prevalence clone should be closely monitored future.