Carriage of Methicillin‐Resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius in Small Animal Veterinarians: Indirect Evidence of Zoonotic Transmission

Abstract

Summary Methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) is increasingly reported in small animals and cases of human infections have already been described despite its recent emergence in veterinary practice. We investigated the prevalence of MRSP and methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among small animal dermatologists attending a national veterinary conference in Italy. Nasal swabs were obtained from 128 veterinarians, seven of which harboured MRSP (n = 5; 3.9%) or MRSA (n = 2; 1.6%). A follow‐up study of two carriers revealed that MRSP persisted for at least 1 month in the nasal cavity. Methicillin‐susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) was isolated from 32 (25%) conference participants, whereas methicillin‐susceptible S. pseudintermedius (MSSP) was not detected, suggesting that MRSP may have a particular ability to colonize humans compared to MSSP. All isolates were characterized by spa typing. Methicillin‐resistant isolates were further typed by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, SCCmec and multi‐locus sequence typing. Two lineages previously associated with pets were identified among the five MRSP isolates; the European epidemic clone ST71‐SCCmec II‐III and ST106‐SCCmec IV. One of the two MRSA isolates displayed a genotype (ST22‐ SCCmecIV) frequently reported in dogs and cats. MRSP isolates were resistant to more antimicrobial agents compared with MRSA isolates and displayed the typical multidrug resistance patterns of MRSP in pets. The 32 MSSA isolates belonged to 20 spa types and the most frequent types (t12, t15 and t166) were associated with common S. aureus lineages in humans (CC30 and CC45). Although low, the 3.9% MRSP carriage rate found among small animal dermatologists was surprising in consideration of the rare occurrence of S. pseudintermedius in humans, the lack of MSSP detection and the recent appearance of MRSP in Europe. As cases of human MRSP infection have been linked with pets, veterinarians should be aware of this zoonotic risk and proper preventative measures should be taken to avoid MRSP transmission from animal patients.

Seasonal microbiological quality of air in veterinary practices in Poland

“…Also, a sharp increase in the number of nonhospital MRSA infections in healthy individuals in recent years points to other sources of these microorganisms [36]. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus are a major challenge for medicine, but soon it may appear that methicillin susceptible strains of S. pseudintermedius (MRSP) will become a major challenge for public health because, as shown by Paul et al [37], they colonize humans more effectively than HMRSA.…”

Methicillin Resistance in Staphylococcus pseudintermedius Isolated from Shelter Dogs in Turkey

“…Beside this, S. pseudintermedius could be transferred from infected and/ or colonized pets to humans, which causes an increasing public health concern [1] . Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is occasionally isolated from serious human infections, particularly from people who are in close contact with pets, such as small animal veterinarians and pet owners [2][3][4][5] .…”

Ever-increasing emergence of multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius in the dog and its zoonotic potentials

“…A certain number of MRSP strains are resistant to antibiotics usually applied in the everyday practice, notably ST71 in Europe and ST68 in North America (Osland et al, 2012). In vitro conditions, MRSP ST71 strain has an increased adherence to canine and human corneocytes than the other MRSP strains and the methicillin susceptible S. pseudintermedius (MSSP) strains (Paul et al, 2011;Latronico et al, 2014). This enhanced adherence of ST71 may contribute to the epidemiological success of the MRSP ST71, most likely due to its higher ability to adapt to human epidermis, that may explain the expanded host spectrum and zoonotic significance (Paul et al, 2011).…”