Staphylococcus pseudintermedius in the dog: taxonomy, diagnostics, ecology, epidemiology and pathogenicity

Abstract

The dog is the natural host of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius. Many research efforts are currently being undertaken to expand our knowledge and understanding of this important canine commensal and opportunistic pathogen. The objective of this review is to summarize the current knowledge of the species, including the latest research outcomes, with emphasis on taxonomy, diagnostics, ecology, epidemiology and pathogenicity. Despite the important taxonomic changes that have occurred over the past few years, the risk of misidentification in canine specimens is low and does not have serious consequences for clinical practice. Staphylococcus pseudintermedius carriage in the dog is more frequent and genetically heterogeneous compared with that of Staphylococcus aureus in man. It appears that these staphylococcal species have evolved separately through adaptation to their respective natural hosts and differ with regard to various aspects concerning ecology, population structure and evolution of antibiotic resistance. Further understanding of the ecology and epidemiology of S. pseudintermedius is hampered by the lack of a standard method for rapid and discriminatory typing and by the limited data available on longitudinal carriage and population structure of meticillin-susceptible strains. With regard to pathogenicity, it is only now that we are starting to explore the virulence potential of S. pseudintermedius based on genomic and proteomic approaches, and more research is needed to assess the importance of individual virulence factors and the possible existence of hypervirulent strains.

Prevalence and in vitro susceptibility of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) from skin and nostrils of dogs with superficial pyoderma

“…However, Devriese et al 2005 using molecular characterization in samples from canine, fox, and pigeon, found three different species among those known as S. intermedius. Those three species, S. pseudintermedius, S. intermedius, and S. delphini, compose the S. intermedius Group (SIG) (Devriese et al 2005, Bannoehr & Guardabassi 2012, Miller et al 2013). …”

Characterization of recombinant wild-type and nontoxigenic protein A from Staphylococcus pseudintermedius

“…It is the major cause of canine skin and ear infections [2,3]. Furthermore, human infections are sporadically reported [4,5], suggesting that, although it is estimated to be low, there is a threat of zoonotic disease.…”

Detección del gen mecA en cepas de Staphylococcus coagulasa positiva aisladas desde gatos

“…Sin embargo, en el año 2005 este género fue reclasificado taxonómicamente, considerándose actualmente como S. pseudintermedius a la gran mayoría de los aislados de perros y gatos y algunos de equinos 6 . Las pruebas fenotípicas no son de gran ayuda para diferenciar S. intermedius de S. pseudintermedius 7 , por lo que se prefiere considerar a los aislados de S. intermedius como pertenecientes al "grupo de S. intermedius" (SIG, por sus siglas en inglés). La virulencia de estas especies se asocia a la producción de coagulasa, por lo que los aislados capaces de producirla son clasificados como "Staphylococcus coagulasa positiva" (SCP).…”