Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) at ambient freshwater beaches

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are a threat to human health worldwide, and although detected at marine beaches, they have been largely unstudied at freshwater beaches. Genes indicating S. aureus (SA; femA) and methicillin resistance (mecA) were detected at 11 and 12 of 13 US Great Lakes beaches and in 18% or 27% of 287 recreational water samples, respectively. Eight beaches had mecA+femA (potential MRSA) detections. During an intensive study, higher bather numbers, staphylococci concentrations, and femA detections were found in samples collected after noon than before noon. Local population density, beach cloud cover, and beach wave height were significantly correlated with SA or MRSA detection frequency. The Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene, associated with community-acquired MRSA, was detected in 12 out of 27 potential MRSA samples. The femA gene was detected less frequently at beaches that met US enterococci criteria or EU enterococci 'excellent' recreational water quality, but was not related to Escherichia coli-defined criteria. Escherichia coli is often the only indicator used to determine water quality at US beaches, given the economic and healthcare burden that can be associated with infections caused by SA and MRSA, monitoring of recreational waters for non-fecal bacteria such as staphylococci and/or SA may be warranted.

Prevalence and Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin‐Resistant Staphylococcus aureus on Public Recreational Beaches in Northeast Ohio

“…In the United States, S. aureus has been isolated from public recreational beaches in Florida (Abdelzaher et al, ; Elmir et al, ; Esiobu et al, ; Mohammed et al, ), Washington (Soge et al, ), Hawaii (Charoenca & Fujioka, ; Fowler, ; Seifried et al, ; Tice et al, ; Viau et al, ), and California (Goodwin & Pobuda, ; Yamahara et al, ), but inland freshwater beaches have not been extensively studied with the exception of a recent investigation of Great Lakes beaches (Fogarty et al, ) The overall MRSA prevalence in our study is similar to several of these studies (Fogarty et al, ; Roberts et al, ). However, the overall S. aureus contamination in our sample was lower than that of Goodwin and Pobuda (), who documented 60%–75% and 53%–72% seawater and sand, respectively, that were contaminated with S. aureus , but our study had a higher prevalence of MRSA (7% versus 11.4% in water and 0% versus 7.1% in sand) (Goodwin & Pobuda, ).…”

“…Sampling seasons, sample processing methods, and geography may have contributed to different outcomes. For example, Goodwin and Pobuda () collected samples from two California beaches from June to September and used filtration technique in water sample processing; Fogarty et al () used similar methods. We collected samples in three seasons and did not filter water.…”

Environmental Surveillance and Characterization of Antibiotic Resistant Staphylococcus aureus at Coastal Beaches and Rivers on the Island of Hawaiʻi

“…They have been found in domestic and wild animals, as well as in a variety of environments [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. In the United States, S. aureus has been isolated from coastal beach waters, freshwaters, and sand in California [ 7 ], Florida [ 5 , 8 , 9 ], Washington State [ 3 , 10 , 11 ], Ohio [ 4 ], the Great Lakes [ 12 ], and Hawaiʻi [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)- and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA)-related mortality rates have been estimated at 14 and 11 deaths per 100,000 hospitalizations, respectively, in the United States [ 17 ].…”

Antibiotic Resistance in Recreational Waters: State of the Science

“…Resistance to traditional fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) and enterococci, and to bacterial pathogens are of interest in ambient recreational waters. Bacterial pathogens, include but are not limited to, those in the Enterobacteriaceae family (e.g., pathogenic E. coli, Klebsiella spp., Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., and Yersinia pestis) and Staphylococcus aureus (specifically MRSA), which have all been detected in ambient waters [15,[18][19][20]. Overall, the presence of AMR bacteria and ARGs in surface water is well established [15][16][17][18][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31].…”