Abstract
ObjectivesA recent study from Sweden showed that European hedgehogs may constitute a reservoir for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), but this host-parasite relationship remains to be investigated in other countries. In this study, we therefore sought to: 1) determine the dissemination of MRSA in European hedgehogs throughout Denmark; 2) investigate determinants of MRSA carriage in hedgehogs; 3) determine the potential for zoonotic transmission of MRSA from hedgehogs to humans; and 4) characterise the detected MRSA on both a phenotypic and molecular level.MethodsNasal swabs were taken from 188 dead hedgehogs collected by volunteers throughout Denmark to determine the occurrence of MRSA. Additionally, 16 hedgehog rehabilitators were tested for potential zoonotic transmission of MRSA from hedgehogs to humans. The swabs were incubated in tryptic soy broth supplemented with 6.5% NaCl, followed by spread of 10 μl on Brilliance MRSA 2 agar. One presumptive MRSA colony from each plate was subcultured on 5% blood agar. All S. aureus subcultures were verified by a PCR assay detecting mecA, mecC, lukF-PV, scn, and spa, followed by spa typing.ResultsA total of 114 (61%) hedgehogs carried mecC-MRSA, whereas none carried mecA-MRSA. The detected mecC-MRSA belonged to two genetic lineages CC130 (spa-types: t528, t843, t1048, t3256, t3570, t6220, t17133) and CC1943 (spa-types: t978, t2345, t3391, t8835, t16868), 52% of which were spa-type t843 (CC130).The detection rate of mecC-MRSA in the hedgehogs was similar regardless of cause of death, sex, region and habitat type. None of the hedgehog rehabilitators carried MRSA.ConclusionsThis nationwide study confirms a high occurrence of mecC-MRSA in hedgehogs, which could serve as a natural reservoir for this specific type of MRSA. Furthermore, our study did not find signs of zoonotic transmission of mecC-MRSA to hedgehog rehabilitators.
Highlights
Staphylococcus aureus is a commensal bacterium with the potential to cause severe infections in humans
None of the hedgehog rehabilitators carried Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). This nationwide study confirms a high occurrence of mecC-MRSA in hedgehogs, which could serve as a natural reservoir for this specific type of MRSA
Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) are resistant to most β-lactam antibiotics, due to the expression of additional penicillin binding proteins (PBPs) with low affinity to βlactams, which are encoded by either mecA, mecB or mecC genes, of which mecA and mecC are carried in mobile genetic elements, referred to as staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) [1, 2]
Summary
Staphylococcus aureus is a commensal bacterium with the potential to cause severe infections in humans. Livestock-associated MRSA has been recognized as a third major cause of MRSA infections in humans [3, 5, 6]. The mecA gene predominates in human MRSA isolates, and it was not until 2011 that the mecC gene was described in S. aureus from humans and dairy cattle from Denmark, England, Ireland and Scotland [7, 8]. Zoonotic transmission of mecC-MRSA from livestock to humans has been detected on several occasions [6, 13,14,15]. The highest prevalence of human mecC-MRSA cases have been found in Denmark, accounting for 1–2% (30–50 cases annually) of all human MRSA cases, where they primarily cause skin and soft tissue infections [28]. In contrast to most MRSA isolates of human origin, mecC-MRSA does not seem to carry the φSa3 phage-encoded modulators of the human innate immune responses, including SAK (sak), CHIPS (chp), and SCIN (scn), which indicates a non–human origin [13]
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