Comparative Genotypes, Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec (SCCmec) Genes and Antimicrobial Resistance amongst Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus haemolyticus Isolates from Infections in Humans and Companion Animals

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 9; p. e0138079
• Main Authors: McManus, Brenda A, Coleman, David C, Deasy, Emily C, Brennan, Gráinne I, O' Connell, Brian, Monecke, Stefan, Ehricht, Ralf, Leggett, Bernadette, Leonard, Nola, Shore, Anna C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 17-09-2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Accountants; Acid resistance; Alleles; Aminoglycosides; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; Antibacterial agents; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial resistance; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Cats; Chloramphenicol; Chromosomes; Ciprofloxacin; College campuses; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA fingerprinting; DNA microarrays; DNA sequencing; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Dogs; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial - genetics; Epidemiology; Fusidic acid; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genomics; Genotypes; Health aspects; Homology; Horses; Humans; Infection; Infections; Interspersed Repetitive Sequences - genetics; Laboratories; Methicillin; Methicillin Resistance - genetics; Microbial drug resistance; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Molecular Sequence Data; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Multidrug resistance; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Nosocomial infections; Nucleotide sequence; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Pets - microbiology; Population; Rifampin; Staphylococcal infections; Staphylococcal Infections - drug therapy; Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcus; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus epidermidis; Staphylococcus epidermidis - drug effects; Staphylococcus epidermidis - genetics; Staphylococcus epidermidis - isolation & purification; Staphylococcus haemolyticus - drug effects; Staphylococcus haemolyticus - genetics; Staphylococcus haemolyticus - isolation & purification; Staphylococcus infections; Studies; Trimethoprim; Veterinary colleges; Veterinary medicine; Working groups; Ireland; Germany
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138079

This study compares the characteristics of Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE) and Staphylococcus haemolyticus (SH) isolates from epidemiologically unrelated infections in humans (Hu) (28 SE-Hu; 8 SH-Hu) and companion animals (CpA) (12 SE-CpA; 13 SH-CpA). All isolates underwent antimicrobial susceptibility testing, multilocus sequence typing and DNA microarray profiling to detect antimicrobial resistance and SCCmec-associated genes. All methicillin-resistant (MR) isolates (33/40 SE, 20/21 SH) underwent dru and mecA allele typing. Isolates were predominantly assigned to sequence types (STs) within a single clonal complex (CC2, SE, 84.8%; CC1, SH, 95.2%). SCCmec IV predominated among MRSE with ST2-MRSE-IVc common to both Hu (40.9%) and CpA (54.5%). Identical mecA alleles and nontypeable dru types (dts) were identified in one ST2-MRSE-IVc Hu and CpA isolate, however, all mecA alleles and 2/4 dts detected among 18 ST2-MRSE-IVc isolates were closely related, sharing >96.5% DNA sequence homology. Although only one ST-SCCmec type combination (ST1 with a non-typeable [NT] SCCmec NT9 [class C mec and ccrB4]) was common to four MRSH-Hu and one MRSH-CpA, all MRSH isolates were closely related based on similar STs, SCCmec genes (V/VT or components thereof), mecA alleles and dts. Overall, 39.6% of MR isolates harbored NT SCCmec elements, and ACME was more common amongst MRSE and CpA isolates. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was detected among 96.7% of isolates but they differed in the prevalence of specific macrolide, aminoglycoside and trimethoprim resistance genes amongst SE and SH isolates. Ciprofloxacin, rifampicin, chloramphenicol [fexA, cat-pC221], tetracycline [tet(K)], aminoglycosides [aadD, aphA3] and fusidic acid [fusB] resistance was significantly more common amongst CpA isolates. SE and SH isolates causing infections in Hu and CpA hosts belong predominantly to STs within a single lineage, harboring similar but variable SCCmec genes, mecA alleles and dts. Host and staphylococcal species-specific characteristics were identified in relation to antimicrobial resistance genes and phenotypes, SCCmec and ACME.