Isolation and antimicrobial resistance of coagulase-negative staphylococci recovered from healthy tortoises in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

In the last few decades, there has been a global increase in the adoption of reptiles as companion animals, mainly turtles and tortoises. Considering the popularity of reptiles as pets in Brazil, and a notable lack of data about potentially pathogenic staphylococci in these animals, this study isolated and evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility of staphylococcal species from healthy tortoises (Chelonoidis carbonaria) in Brazil. During a 12-month period (February 2019 to February 2020), cloacal swabs from 66 healthy tortoises were collected at the Wild Animals Screening Center in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The swabs were plated onto mannitol salt agar for staphylococci isolation, and species identification was performed using MALDI-TOF MS. Antimicrobial susceptibility was investigated using the disk diffusion method, and the presence of the mecA gene was investigated by PCR to detect methicillin resistance. Of the tested animals, 72.7% were positive for staphylococcal isolation. All isolates were coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), and Staphylococcus sciuri (81.3%), and S. xylosus (12.5%) were the most frequently isolated species. The majority of the isolates (56%) were resistant to at least one antimicrobial agent. A high frequency of resistance was observed for penicillin (35.5%) and tetracycline (29.1 %). All strains were susceptible to cefoxitin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, and gentamicin. All isolates were negative for the mecA gene. The present work suggests that healthy tortoises are mainly colonized by CoNS, especially S. sciuri. Half of the isolates were resistant to at least one antimicrobial, raising questions regarding the possible role of these animals as reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance genes.

Identification and characterization of pathogenic and multidrug-resistant bacteria in feral pigeons surrounding a veterinary hospital in Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…xylosus, the most frequent species reported in our study, has been previously isolated from pigeons and other birds, suggesting commensalism (VElA et al, 2012;MAHMMoUD, 2013;zIGo, 2017;MAtIAS et al, 2018). this coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) has also been found in different mammals and reptiles (BECkER et al, 2014;RISSI et al, 2015;MAtIAS et al, 2018;SANtANA et al, 2021;SANtANA et al, 2022), and despite being mostly labeled as non-pathogenic, it has caused several opportunistic infections in animals and humans (WoN et al, 2002;kokSAl et al, 2009;AkHADDAR et al, 2010;RISSI et al, 2015).…”

“…More than one-third of the captured pigeons were positive for staphylococci and eight different species were recovered (table 1). According to other studies, pigeons seem to harbor a high diversity of staphylococcal species, whereas other animals, such as free-living reptiles and rodents, seem to show a more homogeneous colonization pattern (SCHWARz & WERCkENtHIN, 1994;zIGo, 2017;SANtANA et al, 2021;SANtANA et al, 2022). It may be that the close and daily contact of the pigeons with humans and animals, combined with the hospital environment, may have influenced this large number of recovered species (SCHWARz & WERCkENtHIN, 1994;zIGo, 2017;kAMAtHEWAttA et al, 2019).…”

Characterization of the virulence of three novel clade 2 Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile strains and a two-year screening in animals and humans in Brazil

“…Most samples were subjected to differential diagnosis of enteropathogens on the diagnostic routine of the Laboratory of Anaerobic Bacteria from the Veterinary University of Minas Gerais. Other samples were obtained from three parallel studies evaluating zoonotic pathogens in pigeons (data not published), tortoises [51], and rodents and marsupials [52]. Samples from free-living rodents were obtained from two urban parks in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais [52].…”