Identification and molecular epidemiology of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius strains isolated from canine clinical samples in Argentina

Abstract

Background Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is the leading cause of pyoderma in dogs and the frequent use of antimicrobial treatment is associated to the development of resistance to nearly all classes of antibiotics. Despite S. pseudintermedius significance, our understanding of the molecular mechanism of β-lactam resistance and its genetic diversity remains limited. We aimed to: i ) determine the phenotypic resistance profile of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) isolated from infected dogs in three different veterinary hospitals in Buenos Aires, Argentina; ii ) identify the SCC mec elements and resistance genes; and iii ) analyze the clonal relationship between isolates and in regard of dominant lineages found in the world. Results In addition to the differential levels of β-lactam resistance, MRSP isolates ( n = 10) showed resistance to 5–6 families of antibiotics, and were therefore categorized as multidrug-resistant. All the isolates were variant of SCC mec V homologous to S. aureus ; additional SCC mec Finder analysis classified five of the genomes as SCC mec type V (5C2&5) with mecA (encodes for PBP2a) , mecRI and mecI and all the genes closely related to the reference SCC mec type V S. aureus TSGH17 strain. In the remaining five strains, mecA was present, although other genes associated with SCC mec V including mecR1 and mecI were missing. PBP2a was inducible in low level resistance strains (MRSP 8151), and constitutively expressed in MRSP 8150, suggesting different mecA regulatory mechanisms. MRSP isolates showed significant genetic diversity: eight PFGE clonal types and six multilocus-sequence typing (MLST) sequence types (STs) (339, 649, 919, 920, 921 and 922), including four new STs genetically distinct from STs reported in other geographic areas. Comparative genomics and phylogenetic analyses of the MRSP showed a correlation between the genetic content and the phenotypes, and established the genetic relationship between the isolates. Conclusions MRSP could be a threat to animal health due to it concerning level of antimicrobial resistance. Our study highlights genetic and epidemiological aspects of multidrug-resistant MRSP strains from Argentina showing high degree of correlation between the resistance genes and the phenotype of the isolates and, furthermore, they appeared evolutionary closer to major worldwide reported ST68 and...

Anti-biofilm activity of Thai herbal essential oils against Staphylococcus pseudintermedius causing canine pyoderma

“…Systemic and topical antibiotics are currently used to treat superficial and deep canine staphylococcal pyoderma, but longterm treatments are required and most animals suf-fer from recurrent infections [5]. Today, the development of antibiotic resistance in the causative bacteria is an important problem in veterinary medicine and public health, especially methicillin-resistant S. pseudintermedius [6].…”

Molecular Detection and Characterization of the mecA and nuc Genes From Staphylococcus Species (S. aureus, S. pseudintermedius, and S. schleiferi) Isolated From Dogs Suffering Superficial Pyoderma and Their Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles

“…On the contrary, in our study, 73.6% (19 cases) of isolates corresponding to S. pseudintermedius were presumptive to carry the mec gene. Interestingly, it has been found that S. pseudintermedius from companion animals was the causative agent of infection in humans (9,11,12,16,56), highlighting the importance of considering those isolates found in the present study as potential zoonotic agents. On the other hand, the SCCmec is a complex element.…”

“…Other bacterial species found in healthy skin of dogs are S. aureus, S. schleiferi (6), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (7). Because S. pseudintermedius occasionally colonizes the human skin causing bacterial dermatitis, it has been proposed and evidenced as a zoonotic bacterium transmitted from the dog to their owner (8)(9)(10)(11)(12). One critical problem in clinical settings requiring confirmatory phenotyping of staphylococci causing CSP is the inability to differentiate between S. aureus and S. pseudintermedius because of the lack of differentiation tests between these two species (13), which can result in incorrect diagnoses.…”

“…For these reasons, it is necessary to perform molecular diagnosis for differentiating between S. aureus and S. pseudintermedius in samples from CSP patients. The clinical implications of the wrong diagnosis are that several S. pseudintermedius strains carry resistance to methicillin (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius) or multidrug resistance (MDR) genes (15), resulting in lack of response to antimicrobial treatments, impairment of clinical signs, and progression of CSP toward deep pyoderma (11,12,16).…”

“…Several authors reported the carriage status of antimicrobial resistance-encoding genes by the genus Staphylococcus , the most critical being the methicillin-resistance encoding mec gene ( 11 , 12 , 17 , 18 ). The mec gene encodes an alternative penicillin-binding protein (PBP2a) with a high affinity to β-lactamic antibiotics.…”