Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage could be a risk for development of clinical infections in rabbits

Abstract

Although nasal carriage has been described as a risk factor for Staphylococcus aureus infections in humans, there is a scarcity of studies about S. aureus nasal carriers in animals. In rabbits, S. aureus is one of the most important pathogens responsible for a number of different types of infections. This study was designed to determine the extent of staphylococcal nasal carriage and to establish whether a relationship exists between nasal carriage and development of lesions. One hundred and sixteen rabbits with and without chronic signs of staphylococcosis from 6 industrial rabbitries were monitored. Nasal swabs for microbiological assessments were obtained from all animals. Microbiological results showed that 56% of the animals carried S. aureus in their nasal cavities with significantly higher incidence in animals with staphylococcal-related lesions (84.2%) compared to apparently healthy animals (28.8%). Additionally, the S. aureus strains isolated from the nasal cavity and lesions were clonally related in 91.7% of animals. This suggests that nasal carriage of S. aureus in rabbits could be a risk for development of clinical infections.

Marked Presence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Wild Lagomorphs in Valencia, Spain

“…This finding has also been observed in commercial rabbitries where the presence of S. aureus was isolated from mainly samples taken from the ears and perineum among nine different anatomical locations [42]. The percentage of nasal carriers (28.7%) was lower than previously described in farm rabbits with staphylococcal problems (56%) [6], but was higher than other wild mammals (22.3%), and was substantially higher than recently described for wild rabbits (8%) [29].…”

“…This has also been found in animals, specifically rabbits, where the colonization capacity of this bacterium plays an important role in spreading the disease [42]. There are reports that S. aureus carriage in rabbits can be a risk for developing clinical infections [6]. These results agree with this asseveration because the S. aureus strains isolated from nostrils/ear/perineum and lesions were clonally related in 100% animals.…”

“…The most frequently detected CC herein was CC130, followed by CC425. The ST121 (CC121) lineage has been identified in most nasal carriers [6] and chronic staphylococcal infections [12,22,44] in commercial rabbits. Therefore, these results indicate that the S. aureus strains which affect commercial and wild rabbits are different, which reinforces recently observed findings in wild rabbits in Aragón (a region in north Spain), where three strains were typed as t843 (ascribed to CC130).…”

“…Studies have shown that about 20% of humans are persistent nasal carriers of S. aureus, and around 30% are intermittent carriers [2]. The percentage of nasal carriers reported in different animal species varies: 7.9% in horses [3], 29% in ewes [4] and 32.1-53% in rabbits [5,6]. Asymptomatic nasal carriers play a key role in the epidemiology and control of staphylococcal diseases, as the nasal cavity allows bacteria to persist over time and to multiply, which constitutes a source of infection [2].…”

Staphylococcus spp. from wild mammals in Aragón (Spain): antibiotic resistance status

“…This is in line with the non-achievement of S. aureus isolation from Carnivora (including carrion eaters), regarded as more independent individuals (5), a characteristic which hinders direct transmission (14,21). Interestingly, although wild rabbits were the most represented mammals in this study, they carried a low percentage of S. aureus (8%; 3/38), it being clearly lower than that observed in domestic rabbits in Spain (29% of healthy rabbits) (25). The free-living characteristic of wild rabbits, together with less contact between individuals (5) could be a protective factor.…”