Import of community-associated, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus to Europe through skin and soft-tissue infection in intercontinental travellers, 2011-2016

Abstract

Objectives: Recently, following import by travel and migration, epidemic community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) has caused nosocomial outbreaks in Europe, sometimes with a fatal outcome. We describe clinico-epidemiological characteristics of CA-MRSA detected by the European Network for the Surveillance of imported S. aureus (www.staphtrav.eu) from May 2011 to November 2016. Methods: Sentinel surveillance at 13 travel clinics enrolling patients with travel-associated skin and soft-tissue infection (SSTI) and analysing lesion and nose swabs at one central laboratory. Results: A total of 564 independent case-patients with SSTI were enrolled and had 374 (67%) S. aureus-positive lesions, of which 14% (51/374) were MRSA. The majority of CA-MRSA isolates from SSTI were Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL)-positive (43/51, 84%). The risk of methicillin-resistance in imported S. aureus varied by travel region (p Conclusions: Travel-associated CA-MRSA SSTI is a transmissible condition that leads to medical consultations and colonization of the infected host. (c) 2018 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.