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We describe a community outbreak of Panton-Valentine leukocidin–positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) during November 2023–June 2024 in the Netherlands. We identified a massage center as the source.
Case-patients experienced skin infections and abscesses. This study highlights the importance of genomic surveillance of MRSA in distinguishing Panton-Valentine leukocidin–positive MRSA.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) of multilocus sequence type (MLST) clonal complex (CC) 398 is usually considered livestock-associated (LA) MRSA. Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)–positive isolates of this type are increasingly detected in humans and not associated with livestock exposure ( 1 – 5 ).
Those strains possess virulence genes that enhance human-to-human transmission ( 6 ). In November 2023, an outbreak of PVL-positive CC398 MRSA linked to a massage center occurred in the Netherlands.
Here, we describe the course and characteristics of the outbreak and the management challenges specific to a community MRSA outbreak.
CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal published a clinical update in Infectious Disease on 10 Apr 2026.
The item focuses on Panton-Valentine Leukocidin–Encoding Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the Netherlands, 2023–2024.
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