Isolation and Species Distribution of Staphylococci from Animal and Human Skin.

Abstract

ABSTRACT. From April 1999 to December 2000, a survey was made on the distribution of Staphylococcus species on the skin of 7 kinds of animals and humans. Staphylococci were isolated from 12 (100%) of 12 pigs, 17 (89.5%) of 19 horses, 30 (100%) of 30 cows, 73 (90.1%) of 81 chickens, 10 (40%) of 25 dogs, 23 (76.7%) of 30 laboratory mice, 20 (52.6%) of 38 pigeons, and 80 (88.9%) of 90 human beings. The predominant staphylococci isolated from a variety of animal species were novobiocin-resistant species, S. xylosus and S. sciuri regardless of the animal host species. The novobiocin-resistant species including S. xylosus and S. sciuri were only occasionally isolated from human skin. The predominant staphylococci found on human skin were novobiocin-sensitive species, S. epidermidis (63.8%), followed by S. warneri (28.8%) and S. hominis (13.8%). The results suggest that the staphylococcal flora inhabiting animal skin are different from those of human skin in regard to the predominant species isolated. In this study, we used pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to examine the chromosomal polymorphisms of S. epidermidis isolated most frequently from human skin. Strains of S. epidermidis showed the greatest genomic diversity in their fragment patterns.KEY WORDS: animal and human skin, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, Staphylococcus species.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 64(3): 245-250, 2002 Recently, taxonomic studies have shown that the genus Staphylococcus can be divided into at least 36 species and 17 subspecies, consisting of 6 coagulase-positive or coagulase-variable species and 31 coagulase-negative species.Staphylococci are widespread in nature and commonly found living on the skin, in skin glands, and on mucous membranes of humans and other mammals or birds. They are sometimes found in the mouth, blood, mammary glands, and intestinal, genitourinary, and upper respiratory tracts of these hosts.Knowledge of the distribution of the normal staphylococcal flora on the skin is an important factor in understanding the epidemiology of staphylococcal skin diseases in humans and animals. However, ecological studies on staphylococci inhabiting human [1, 12-14, 19, 21] and animal [6,12,16,26] skin have been reported infrequently in the literature. We [26] previously investigated Staphylococcus species on the skin of animals and humans during the period from 1987 to 1990, and found novobiocin-resistant staphylococci to be the predominant species in animals, whereas novobiocinsensitive staphylococci were abundantly present on human skin.In this report, we re-examined the distribution of Staphylococcus species on the skin of healthy animals and humans. We also compared the present results with those of our previous report [26] in terms of the isolation rate of staphylococci from the skin and the dominant species of staphylococci isolated.Among the coagulase-negative staphylococci species, S. epidermidis has been isolated most frequently from the anterior nares [1,9,13] or the skin [13,14] of healthy humans. Many reports have concerned the p...

Isolation of <i>Staphylococcus sciuri</i> from horse skin infection

“…In this respect, a report also suggested that the possible source of S. sciuri colonization in surgical wounds may be flies perching on open wounds (Kolawole and Shittu, 1997).Thus, it is assumed that frequent contact with healthy domestic and farm animals may also contribute to an at least temporary colonization of the skin, and subsequently the wounds, by S. sciuri (Kloos et al, 1976;Nemeghaire et al, 2014b). Despite the rare occurrence of S. sciuri in humans (Marsou et al, 1999;Couto et al, 2000;Nagase et al, 2002), some reports furthermore point to the role of S. sciuri as opportunistic pathogens isolated from various clinical specimen and causing serious infections in humans such as endocarditis, peritonitis, septic shock, and wound infections (Hedin and Widerstrom, 1998;Wallet et al, 2000;Horii et al, 2001;Stepanovic et al, 2002Stepanovic et al, , 2003). Moreover, despite the lack of data regarding S. sciuri colonization of the handler, a recurrent transmission from the handler to the horse http: //www.openveterinaryjournal.com H. Beims et al Open Veterinary Journal, (2016), Vol.…”

Biochemical and molecular characterization of an azoreductase from Staphylococcus aureus, a tetrameric NADPH-dependent flavoprotein

“…Staphylococcus aureus is widespread in nature and commonly found on human skin, skin glands and mucous membranes (Nagase et al, 2002). The skin microbiota plays a very important role in preventing many pathogens from colonizing the skin and causing disease, in a similar manner to the 'barrier effect' produced by intestinal microbes.…”

Staphylococcus sciuri associated to subcutaneous abscess and dermatitis in ICR mouse

“…sciuri, and S. aureus was 69.6%, 43.5%, and 39.1%, respectively (Nagase et al, 2002). Obviously, although S. sciuri was normally isolated from both oral (Trudel et al, 1986;Nakano, 1989;Hauschild and Schwarz, 2003) and normal skin (Nagase et al, 2002) from laboratory mice, the present case demonstrated its individually opportunistic pathogen property.…”

“…Obviously, although S. sciuri was normally isolated from both oral (Trudel et al, 1986;Nakano, 1989;Hauschild and Schwarz, 2003) and normal skin (Nagase et al, 2002) from laboratory mice, the present case demonstrated its individually opportunistic pathogen property. However, the disease natural history of S. sciuri, claiming it as an opportunistic pathogen is still controversial with a wide spectrum of predisposed factors including host, strain, and environmental factors (Hedin and Widerstrom, 1998).…”