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Aims: To determine the Staphylococcus aureus carriage rate in wild mammals in Aragon, northern Spain, to analyse their antimicrobial resistance phenotype/genotype and to characterize the recovered isolates. Methods and Results: Nasal and rectal swabs of 103 mammals were collected in Aragón during the period 2012–2015. Antimicrobial susceptibility, the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes and virulence factors were investigated. Molecular characterization was carried out by spa, MLST, agr and SCCmec. Staphylococcus aureus were recovered from 23 animals (22%). Four of the 23 S. aureus were methicillin‐resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Three MRSA were mecC‐positive and were isolated from European rabbits and were typed as t843 (ascribed to CC130). The remaining MRSA was a mecA‐carrying isolate from European hedgehog, typed as ST1‐t386‐SCCmecIVa‐agrIII and it harboured the blaZ, erm(C), ant(6)‐Ia and aph(3´)‐IIIa resistance genes. A high diversity of spa‐types was detected among the 19 methicillin‐susceptible S. aureus isolates, which showed high susceptibility to the antimicrobials tested. The tst gene and different combinations of staphylococcal enterotoxins were found. Conclusions: Staphylococcus aureus were detected in nasal and rectal samples of wild mammals. Wild rabbits could be a reservoir of mecC‐MRSA. Significance and Impact of the Study: This work provides information on the presence and characteristics of S. aureus from mammals in a defined geographic region in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staphylococcus aureus is a versatile bacterium, which can infect or colonize a variety of host species. The objective of this study was to characterize S. aureus isolates recovered from nasal swabs of 167 healthy ewes sampled from 12 farms in different areas of Tunisia during the period of 2014–2015. Genetic lineages, virulence factors and antibiotic resistance mechanisms were determined for recovered isolates. S. aureus was detected in 45 out of 167 tested samples (26.9%). All isolates were methicillin-susceptible (MSSA) and the majority of them were susceptible to tested antibiotics with few exceptions (% of resistance): penicillin (8.8), ciprofloxacin (4.4), and tobramycin or tetracycline (2.2, each). Twelve different spa types were detected (t15098, t15099, t1773, t3576, t1534, t5428, t3750, t5970 t254, t2883, t127 and t933), two of them were new (t15098 and t15099). S. aureus isolates were ascribed to agr I (n = 23), agr II (n = 1) and agr III (n = 20), and one was non-typeable. According to the sequence-type (ST) determined and/or the spa- type detected, the 45 S. aureus isolates were assigned to six clonal complexes, with CC522 (44.4%) and CC130 (37.7%) being the most common lineages. Twenty-one (46.6%) and two (4.2%) isolates harbored the tst and eta genes encoding TSST-1 and ETA, respectively. In conclusion, nares of healthy ewes could be a reservoir of MSSA CC522 and CC130, lineages associated with TSST-1 and ETA that might represent a risk to human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to determine the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage in red deer of a semi-extensive farm and in humans in contact with the estate animals, and to characterize obtained isolates. Nasal swabs of 65 deer and 15 humans were seeded on mannitol-salt-agar and oxacillin-resistance-screening-agar-base. Isolates were identified by microbiological and molecular methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility profile was determined for 16 antibiotics by disk-diffusion and the presence of eight antibiotic resistance genes, seven virulence genes and genes of immune-evasion-cluster (IEC) was analyzed by PCR. S. aureus was typed by PFGE-SmaI, spa , agr , SCC mec and MLST. Isolates were detected in 16 deer (24.6%). Eleven S. aureus isolates were methicillin-resistant (MRSA), and five were methicillin-susceptible (MSSA). All MRSA harbored mecC gene and were agr -III/SCC mec XI/ST1945 (four spa -t843 and seven spa -t1535). All mecC -MRSA carried bla Z-SCC mec XI and etd 2, were IEC-type-E, and belonged to the same PFGE pattern. The five MSSA were typed as spa -t2420/ agr -I/ST133. Regarding humans, S. aureus was recovered from six samples (40%). The isolates were MSSA and were typed as spa -t002/ agr -II, spa -t012/ agr -III or spa -t822/ agr -III and showed different IEC types (A, B, D and F). bla Z and erm (A) genes were detected, as well as cna and tst genes. As conclusion, red deer analyzed in this study are frequent carriers of mecC -MRSA CC130 (16.9%), they are characterized by few resistance and virulence determinants, and by the presence of IEC type-E. Deer could be a source of mecC -MRSA which could potentially be transmitted to other animals, or even to humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clin Microbiol Infect Abstract Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major cause of healthcare-associated (HA), community-associated (CA) and livestock-associated (LA) infections. Recently, the discovery of human and bovine MRSA isolates carrying a new mecA gene homologue, mecA LGA251 (now designated mecC), has caused concern because they are not detected by conventional, confirmatory tests for MRSA. Very little is known about their frequency, epidemiology and possible transmission between livestock and humans. In this study, the epidemiology of the mecC isolates in Denmark was investigated by screening the national collections of MRSA cases (from 1988 onwards) and S. aureus bacteraemia cases (from 1958 onwards). Isolates carrying mecC were only recovered infrequently before 2003 ( n = 2) but now seem to be increasing, with 110 cases in 2003-2011. Clinical data on mecC-carrying MRSA demonstrated that mecC-MRSA were primarily community-acquired (CA-MRSA) and affected persons typically living in rural areas, being older than other CA-MRSA patients. Among 22 cases in Region Zealand, four reported contact with cattle and sheep. Two of these persons lived on farms with livestock positive for mecC-carrying MRSA, sharing spa type (t843), MLVA (MT429) and PFGE pattern with the human isolates. These observations indicate that mecC-carrying MRSA can be exchanged between humans and ruminants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]