Infection and colonization with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398 versus other MRSA in an area with a high density of pig farms

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the emergence of animal related methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398 in an area with a high density of pig farms. A retrospective analysis was performed of all MRSA isolates in the laboratory database . This is a 925% increase of which 82% (108/132) was due to ST398. The majority (74%) came from targeted screening but 7% was due to unexpected findings. A wide range of infections with ST398 occurred in patients with and without contact with livestock varying from post-operative wound infections to sepsis and post-trauma osteomyelitis with an overrepresentation of spa type t567 among the clinical isolates. ST398 isolates were more often multi-resistant than isolates of other spa-types. The emergence of MRSA ST398 led to an increase in both MRSA carriers and MRSA infections.

Eradication of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and of Enterobacteriaceae Expressing Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamases on a Model Pig Farm

“…Farmers are confronted with two different consequences of this problem: the potential danger of animal colonization with drug-resistant bacteria for (i) humans living on or in the vicinity of farms (11)(12)(13) and for (ii) consumers of animal products (14)(15)(16)(17)(18). Indeed, livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) have been found in humans living and working in close contact with pigs and also in hospitals in rural areas (11,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). In contrast, ESBL-E could possibly be transferred from animals to humans via meat products (16,(26)(27)(28).…”

Longitudinal Study of the Contamination of Air and of Soil Surfaces in the Vicinity of Pig Barns by Livestock-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

“…Concerns are rising that LA-MRSA strains enter hospitals and the health system and cause infections in patients. Such concerns are fuelled by, e.g., studies carried out in the Netherlands and Germany showing a strong regional association between high densities of pigs and the prevalence of LA-MRSA in humans (34,36) and the number of LA-MRSA-positive dairy farms (9,29). Furthermore, although LA-MRSA, CA-MRSA, and HA-MRSA differ phenotypically and genotypically (5,35) and can be distinguished by different molecular typing techniques (5), such as multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and the sequence typing of the polymorphic region X of the S. aureus protein A gene (spa typing), the spa types t011, t108, and t034 that are specifically associated with the LA-MRSA sequence (ST398) (6) can be isolated from animals and humans (30) and have emerged in association with animal production in many countries (14,23,35).…”

Occurrence of Livestock-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Turkey and Broiler Barns and Contamination of Air and Soil Surfaces in Their Vicinity

“…Many studies on these so-called livestock-associated (LA)-MRSA isolates, especially in pigs (5-7) but also in cattle (8), calves (9), and poultry (10, 11), followed. The resistant microorganism seems to be widespread among different kinds of farm animals and is also observed in humans that have close contact with animals (12)(13)(14) or live in regions with a high pig density (15). LA-MRSA isolates usually belong to clonal complex CC398, and the majority of them to multilocus sequence type 398 (ST398) (6,11,13,16).…”