Frequency, antimicrobial susceptibility and clonal distribution of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius in canine clinical samples submitted to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory in Italy: A 3-year retrospective investigation

• Published in: Veterinary microbiology Vol. 211; pp. 103 - 106
• Main Authors: Ventrella, G., Moodley, A., Grandolfo, E., Parisi, A., Corrente, M., Buonavoglia, D., Guardabassi, L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-11-2017; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Animals; Anti-Infective Agents - pharmacology; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Bacterial Typing Techniques - veterinary; Ciprofloxacin; Clindamycin; Dog Diseases - epidemiology; Dog Diseases - microbiology; Dogs; Doxycycline; Drug resistance; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field - veterinary; Emergence; Epidemics; Female; Gel electrophoresis; Gentamicin; Italy; Male; Medical diagnosis; Methicillin; Methicillin - pharmacology; Methicillin Resistance; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus - genetics; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification; Multidrug resistance; Multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius; Multilocus sequence typing; Multilocus Sequence Typing - veterinary; Polymerase Chain Reaction - veterinary; Retrospective Studies; Small animal veterinary practice; Staphylococcal Infections - epidemiology; Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcal Infections - veterinary; Staphylococcus; Staphylococcus infections; Studies; Sulfonamides; Italy; Methicillin resistance; Multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius; Small animal veterinary practice; Dogs
• ISSN: 0378-1135; 1873-2542
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2017.09.015

•MRSP were significantly more resistant than MSSP to non-beta lactam antibiotics.•PFGE, MLST and SCCmec typing confirmed the dominance (48%) of ST71 clone.•Results suggested that multiple MRSP clones circulate in the canine population.
In the last decade there has been a rapid global spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) clones displaying multidrug resistance in dogs. We investigated prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility and clonal distribution of MRSP isolated from clinical canine samples between during 2011–2014. Following species identification by nuc PCR, MRSP were confirmed by the presence of mecA and characterized by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE), SCCmec typing, and Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) of a few isolates having distinct PFGE profiles. Both the MRSP isolation frequency in the 175 samples tested (12%) and the prevalence of methicillin resistance amongst the 63S. pseudintermedius isolates (33%) were high compared to a previous study in Italy. Sequence type (ST)71 carrying SCCmec type II–III, described as the epidemic European MRSP clone, accounted for approximately half of the isolates. The remaining isolates belonged to ST410-SCCmec type II–III, ST258-SCCmec type IV and other three clones associated with SCCmec type IV (ST261, ST290 and ST477). MRSP were consistently resistant to potentiated sulfonamides, and more frequently to clindamycin, ciprofloxacin and doxycycline than methicillin-susceptible isolates. Gentamicin was the only antibiotic showing good in vitro activity on all MRSP with 20 of the 21 isolates being susceptible. Results confirm a high prevalence of MRSP amongst clinical samples in Italy, revealing the emergence of new clones other than ST71, such as ST258, ST410, ST261, ST290 and ST477, here describe for the first time. Implementation of antimicrobial stewardship and surveillance programmes are required to prevent the emergence of new MRSP clones and reducing transmission in small animal practice.