This study showed MRSA ST221 to be present in the nasal
cavity of slaughtered swine in Japan. Since 2005, the high prevalence
of MRSA ST398 in the nasal cavity of swine has been
reported in some parts of Europe and North America, with an
isolation rate between 24.9% and 49% [1–4]. Although many
pigs have been imported from these countries to Japan, ST398
does not as yet seem to have appeared in Japan.