doi: 10.14202/IJOH.2017.77-82
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Article history: Received: 03-08-2017, Accepted: 30-10-2017, Published online: 28-11-2017
Corresponding author: Sara Giordana Rimoldi
E-mail: sara.rimoldi@asst-fbf-sacco.it
Citation: Rimoldi SG, Di Gregorio A, Sala V, De Faveri E, Pagani C, Olivieri P, Savi C, Ridolfo AL, Carlo A, Gismondo MR. Mingling of human and veterinary strains of Staphylococcus aureus: An emerging issue in health-care systems. Int J One Health 2017;3:77-82.Aim: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus remains a leading cause of hospital and community infections. We report a retrospective molecular characterization of S. aureus strains from different settings: hospital workers and patients, and veterinarian surgeons and pets.
Materials and Methods: Eighty-nine S. aureus isolates obtained from nasal swabs of 10 patients, 17 health-care workers (HCWs), 9 pets, and 53 veterinarians were genotypically characterized by means of repetitive extragenic palindromic polymerase chain reaction (Rep PCR) and whole-genome sequencing.
Results: Thirteen different sequence types (STs) were detected: ST398, ST22, ST8, ST30, ST15, ST5, ST121, ST45, ST10, ST6, ST34, ST97, and ST1. Two new STs differing from ST22 and ST5 for a single multilocus sequence typing gene were also identified. Rep PCR documented a genetic relationship among isolates obtained from 5 veterinarians and 10 HCWs.
Conclusion: The large diversity of S. aureus strains detected may reflect a larger epidemiology within the hospital and community, in which companion animals likely act as a reservoir. We identified the circulation of ST5, ST8, ST15, ST22, ST30, ST45, and ST121 both in the hospital and veterinarian environment. Starting from the idea of a unique setting where our population lives, we consider the relationship between community- and hospital-acquired S. aureus.
Keywords: health-care workers, multilocus sequence typing, S. aureus, single-nucleotide polymorphisms, pets, veterinarians..
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