Eighty-four staphylococcal isolates were obtained from milk samples from cows, sheep, goats, and buffalo with subclinical mastitis and from colonization samples from ostriches. The animals were hosted in 18 small dairy herds and an ostrich breeding located in 10 municipalities of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Thirty isolates were identified as Staphylococcus aureus by biochemical and molecular techniques and were comparatively characterized by phenotypic and genotypic methods. The molecular characterization by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), spa typing, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) revealed five clonal types (PFGE A, spa type t359, sequence type 747 [ST747]; PFGE B, spa type t1180, ST750; PFGE C, spa type t605, ST126; PFGE D, spa type t127, ST751; and PFGE F, spa type t002, ST5). None of the isolates harbored the Panton-Valentine leukocidin or exfoliative toxin D gene. The detection of major clone A (in 63% of the isolates) in different herds, among all animal species studied, and in infection and colonization samples evidenced its geographical spread among Rio de Janeiro State and no host preference among the animal species. Comparison with S. aureus from a human origin suggested that all but one clone found in the present study might be animal specific.
A total of 629 nonduplicate methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus MRSA isolates were recovered between June and November 2006 from 11 hospitals located in different areas of Portugal. Selected isolates (n ؍ 271, 43%) were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), representatives of which were additionally characterized by spa typing, multilocus sequence typing, staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing, and the presence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL). The 271 isolates were classified into 13 different clonal types. Three pandemic clones included the majority (n ؍ 241, 88%) of the isolates and were observed in several hospitals: (i) EMRSA-15 (54%)-PFGE type A, ST22, spa type t022, SCCmec IV-was found in the 11 hospitals studied and was identified as the major clone in seven of them; (ii) the New York/Japan clone (17%)-PFGE B, ST5, spa type t067, SCCmec II-was identified in nine hospitals and represented the major clone in four; and (iii) the Brazilian MRSA (17%)-PFGE C, ST239, spa type t037, SCCmec IIIA-was also detected in nine hospitals but never as the main clone. All isolates tested were PVL negative. Clone EMRSA-15 is currently the predominant MRSA clonal type circulating in Portuguese hospitals, but a new wave of MRSA has emerged in the country with the recent introduction and spread of the New York/Japan clone. The Brazilian MRSA that was the leading clone in Portugal in the late 1990s is declining and being progressively replaced by the two former clones. We report the first isolate SCCmec type V (ST45) in Portugal.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.