Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus carrying Panton—Valentine leukocidin genes among isolates from hospitalised patients in China

Between January 2005 and January 2006, 25 (12.8%) of 195 Staphylococcus aureus isolates were positive for Panton—Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes in a teaching hospital in Wenzhou, China. Nineteen (11.9%) of 160 hospital-acquired isolates, and six (17.1%) of 35 community-acquired isolates, harboured lukS/F-PV. Six sequence types (ST88, ST239, ST398, ST25, ST30 and ST59) were found among 18 PVL-positive methicillin-resistant isolates with SCCmec types I, III, IIIA or IV. Only ST88 was found among seven PVL-positive methicillin-susceptible S. aureus isolates. The PVL-positive isolates were associated with lung infection, bloodstream infection and soft-tissue pyogenic infection. Overall, there was a high prevalence of PVL genes in genetically diverse S. aureus isolates.