A previously healthy 37-year-old man had received antibiotic treatment for nasal folliculitis one month earlier when he suddenly developed left upper back pain. Blood tests showed an elevated inflammatory response, and a left pleural effusion was seen on imaging examination. He was diagnosed with left-sided pleuritis. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was detected on blood culture. MRSA showing drug susceptibility similar to that of the blood culture was also detected on pharyngeal culture. After administration of vancomycin (VCM), there was improvement in the clinical findings, as well as in imaging findings, which had previously followed a worsening trend. A case of pleuritis associated with community-acquired MRSA, in which the upper respiratory tract was thought to have been the portal of entry, is presented.