Clonal Lineages, Antimicrobial Resistance, and PVL Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus Associated to Skin and Soft-Tissue Infections from Ambulatory Patients in Portugal

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a leading cause of skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs) in the community. In this study, we characterized a collection of 34 S. aureus from SSTIs in ambulatory patients in Portugal and analyzed the presence of Panton–Valentine leucocidin (PVL)-encoding genes and antibiotic-resistance profile, which was correlated with genetic determinants, plasmid carriage, and clonal lineage. Nearly half of the isolates (15, 44.1%) were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and/or multidrug resistant (MDR). We also detected resistance to penicillin (33/34, 97.1%), fluoroquinolones (17/34, 50.0%), macrolides and lincosamides (15/34, 44.1%), aminoglycosides (6/34, 17.6%), and fusidic acid (2/34, 5.9%), associated with several combinations of resistance determinants (blaZ, erm(A), erm(C), msr(A), mph(C), aacA-aphD, aadD, aph(3′)-IIIa, fusC), or mutations in target genes (fusA, grlA/gyrA). The collection presented a high genetic diversity (Simpson’s index of 0.92) with prevalence of clonal lineages CC5, CC22, and CC8, which included the MRSA and also most MDR isolates (CC5 and CC22). PVL-encoding genes were found in seven isolates (20.6%), three methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) (ST152-agrI and ST30-agrIII), and four MRSA (ST8-agrI). Plasmid profiling revealed seventeen distinct plasmid profiles. This work highlights the high frequency of antimicrobial resistance and PVL carriage in SSTIs-related S. aureus outside of the hospital environment.

Staphylococcus aureus Causing Skin and Soft Tissue Infections in Companion Animals: Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles and Clonal Lineages

“…The population structure of our animal-associated S. aureus collection seems to reflect the predominant lineages circulating in the community and human healthcare settings [37][38][39][40], highlighting the potential sharing of S. aureus strains between companion animals and their owners. In fact, several studies have demonstrated a similarity between S. aureus/MRSA clones isolated from companion animals, particularly cats and dogs, with those isolated from close-contact humans [35,41,42].…”

“…The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/article/ 10.3390/antibiotics11050599/s1, Table S1: S. aureus associated with SSTIs in companion animals analyzed in this study; Table S2: Control strains used for the screening of antibiotic resistance; Table S3: Primers used in this study. References [12,23,29,34,40,54,62,63,[66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84] are cited in the supplementary materials. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data have been provided in the paper.…”

Genomic Investigation of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST113 Strains Isolated from Tertiary Care Hospitals in Pakistan

“…However, no Panton-Valentine leucocidin ( lukF-PV/lukS-PV ) and toxic shock syndrome toxin ( tsst ) genes were detected in any genomes. The S. aureus Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL), encoded by lukF-PV and lukS-PV , is a pore-forming toxin that has been strongly associated with necrotizing pneumonia and skin infections [ 28 ]. The presence of Panton-Valentine leucocidin ( lukF-PV/lukS-PV ) gene in combination with toxic shock syndrome toxin ( tsst ) causes toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) [ 29 ], but the absence of both virulence genes in ST113 strains (P10 and R46) may indicate that these strains are less pathogenic.…”

Bioguided Isolation of Antibiofilm and Antibacterial Pregnane Glycosides from Caralluma quadrangula: Disarming Multidrug-Resistant Pathogens

“…S. aureus is a common cause of superficial skin infections [35]. The treatment of S. aureus infections has become complicated and more difficult due to the increasing incidence of multidrug-resistant S. aureus strains [36,37].…”