Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the dynamics of nasal carriage by Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (SP) among healthy dog-owning household members involved in 7 previous index cases of suspected anthropozoonotic (n = 4) and zoonotic (n = 3) interspecies transmission [4 direct cases, identical SA (n = 3) or SP (n = 1) in owner and dog; three indirect, SP in owner (n = 2) or SA in dog (n = 1)]. Co-carriage with methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCoNS) was also evaluated. Sixteen owners and 10 dogs were sampled once every three months for one year. In total, 50 SA and 31 SP were analysed by MLST, and SA also by spa typing. All isolates were subjected to ApaI/SmaI-PFGE and antimicrobial resistance and virulence profiles were determined. All index owners were persistent SA carriers in all direct-anthropozoonotic transmission cases, while only one dog was persistent SA carrier. Owner and dog exhibited a persistent SP carriage status in the direct-zoonotic transmission case. SP was maintained in the index human over time in one indirect-zoonotic transmission case. Only one SP was methicillin-resistant. SA belonged to genetic backgrounds of MRSA pandemic clones: CC45, CC121, CC30, CC5 and CC398. Three individuals carried a MSSA t1451-ST398 clone with the erm(T)-cadD/cadX resistance genes. SA or SP were persistently detected in the nasal cavity of 7 (43.8%) and 2 (12.5%) owners, and in one and 2 dogs, respectively. SA was recovered as the single species in 10 owners and in one dog; SP in 3 owners and 4 dogs; and both bacterial species in one owner and 4 dogs. Co-carriage of SA or SP with MRCoNS isolates was common (30.7%). This is the first study on the dynamics of nasal carriage of SA and SP in healthy pet-owning household members. Dog-contact may play a role in the staphylococcal species distribution of in-contact individuals.
Highlights
Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (SP) form part of the normal microbiota of the nares, skin and mucous of humans and dogs, but they are opportunistic pathogens [1,2]
We investigated the dynamics of SA and SP nasal carriage of dog-owning household members with previous suspected cases of SA or SP interspecies transmission [7] to evaluate the individual carriage status and to estimate the direction of bacterial transmission
Ten different spa types (Table 2) and 7 STs (ST1654, ST121, ST5, ST398, ST45, ST30, and a new ST registered as ST2619) were observed
Summary
Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (SP) form part of the normal microbiota of the nares, skin and mucous of humans and dogs, but they are opportunistic pathogens [1,2]. Very limited data do exist on the longitudinal carriage of SP in humans in contact to dogs [12,13,14], and none among healthy individuals. A couple of recent studies on the carriage dynamics of methicillin-resistant SP (MRSP) in dogs and in-contact humans reported humans to be rarely colonized by MRSP for prolonged periods of time [13,14]. Various reports have focused on the SA colonization dynamics in humans, including specific populations, such as homeless people, drug users, healthy infants, health care workers, subjects with staphylococcal (previous) infection [15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22] or, more recently, in individuals in contact to livestock [23,24]. To our knowledge, no longitudinal studies on SA from pet-owning humans and their pets have been reported to date
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