Similarity of antibiotic resistance patterns and molecular typing properties of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates widely spread inhospitals in New York City and in a hospital in Tokyo, Japan

One hundred and forty-three single-patient methicillin-resistant Staphyloco ccus aureus (MRSA) isolates collected during April-June, 1997, and February , 1998, in a hospital in Tokyo, Japan, were characterized by molecular typi ng techniques that involved hybridization of ClaI restriction digests with the mecA- and Tn554-specific DNA probes and determination of macrorestricti on patterns of SmaI-digested chromosomal DNA by pulsed-field gel electropho resis (PFGE), A large proportion (76%) of the isolates carried the mecA pol ymorph I, Tn554 pattern A, and PFGE pattern A (clonal type I:A:A), which wa s the same as the clonal type of an MRSA widely spread in hospitals in New York City and hospitals in neighboring New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsyl vania, Also similarly to the New York clone, most of the MRSA isolates from the Japanese hospital were resistant to penicillin, ciprofloxacin, erythro mycin, tetracycline, and high concentrations (500 mug/ml) of spectinomycin, but were susceptible to chloramphenicol, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, an d rifampin, All of the 143 MRSA isolates had vancomycin MICs less than or e qual to2 mgL.