Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus by Free-Living Wild Animals in Spain

Abstract

eThe presence of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) was analyzed in different free-living wild animals to assess the genetic diversity and predominant genotypes on each animal species. Samples were taken from the skin and/or nares, and isolates were characterized by spa typing, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The proportion of MSSA carriers were 5.00, 22.93, 19.78, and 17.67% in Eurasian griffon vulture, Iberian ibex, red deer, and wild boar, respectively (P ‫؍‬ 0.057). A higher proportion of isolates (P ‫؍‬ 0.000) were recovered from nasal samples (78.51%) than skin samples (21.49%), but the 9.26% of red deer and 18.25% of wild boar would have been undetected if only nasal samples had been tested. Sixty-three different spa types were identified, including 25 new spa types. The most common were t528 (43.59%) in Iberian ibex, t548 and t11212 (15.79% and 14.04%) in red deer, and t3750 (36.11%) in wild boar. By MLST, 27 STs were detected, of which 12 had not been described previously. The most frequent were ST581 for Iberian ibex (48.72%), ST425 for red deer (29.82%), and ST2328 for wild boar (42.36%). Isolates from Eurasian griffon vulture belong to ST133. Host specificity has been observed for the most frequent spa types and STs (P ‫؍‬ 0.000). The highest resistance percentage was found against benzylpenicillin (average, 22.2%), although most of the S. aureus isolates were susceptible to all antimicrobial tested. Basically, MSSA isolates were different from those MRSA isolates previously detected in the same animal species.

The effect of anatomic site and age on detection of Staphylococcus aureus in pigs

“…First, this similarity, despite different study designs and considerable temporospatial separation of the study populations, suggests that these lineages may be widely distributed among commercial swine populations. However, data from a study of a single farm in Senegal, 7 and observations on wild boar in Spain, 25 indicate that these MSLT lineages are not universal among swine populations. Second, while ST398 is the predominant lineage of livestock-associated MRSA in Europe, 13 ST9 has been predominant in most Asian countries studied, 33 and ST5 MRSA has been commonly isolated from pigs in North America.…”

Livestock-Associated MRSA and Its Current Evolution

“…The livestock animal species involved are mainly dairy cattle, and these strains have not been recovered from pigs or poultry so far. Other animals involved include sea mammals, pet animals, wildlife (birds and mammals), and zoo animals [97][98][99][101][102][103][104][105][106]. Of note, the ST130 strains carrying SCCmec type XI are likely to be zoonotic and to cause infections in animals [98,107].…”

Importance and implications of antibiotic resistance development in livestock and wildlife farming in South Africa: A Review

“…The major concerns of diseases caused by Staphylococcus species are those caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) (Chambers & DeLeo, 2009). Methicillin-resistant S. aureus has been found to be associated with domestic animals, food-producing animals and various food items such as meat and milk (Porrero et al, 2014). This poses a threat to human health because MRSA is responsible for many nosocomial infections worldwide and could be transferred to humans via the food chain (Nyenje & Ndip, 2013).…”