CASE REPORTS Staphylococcal Exanthematous Disease in a Newborn Due to a Virulent Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Strain Containing the TSST-1 Gene in Europe: an Alert for Neonatologists

We report a case of staphylococcal exanthematous disease in a newborn due to a toxic shock syndrome toxin 1- and SEC-producing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain and alert neonatologists to the prob-able emergence in France of the neonatal toxic shock syndrome-like exanthematous disease in newborns previously described in Japan. We advise neonatologists to pay careful attention to clinical parameters and to prescribe appropriate tests: platelet count, serum C-reactive protein concentration, and V2-positive T-cell counts. CASE REPORT In November 2002, the pediatrics unit of a general hospital in the Centre region of France alerted the Relais Régional d’Hygiène Hospitalière du Centre (RHC) to an unusual exan-thematous disease in a newborn caused by a methicillin-resis-tant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain. A 2-day-old infant, born at 38 weeks of gestation (weight, 3,560 g), with no risk factors for hospital-acquired infection, presented a diffuse, systemic macular erythema. Exanthem