Abstract
BackgroundThe increasing occurrence of livestock-associated (LA) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) associated with the clonal complex (CC) 398 within the past years shows the importance of standardized and comparable typing methods for the purposes of molecular surveillance and outbreak detection. Multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeats analysis (MLVA) has recently been described as an alternative and highly discriminative tool for S. aureus. However, until now the applicability of MLVA for the typing of LA-MRSA isolates from different geographic origin has not been investigated in detail. We therefore compared MLVA and S. aureus protein A (spa) typing for characterizing porcine MRSA from distinct Dutch and German farms.Methodology/Principal FindingsOverall, 134 MRSA isolates originating from 21 different pig-farms in the Netherlands and 36 farms in Germany comprising 21 different spa types were subjected to MLVA-typing. Amplification and subsequent automated fragment sizing of the tandem repeat loci on a capillary sequencer differentiated these 134 isolates into 20 distinct MLVA types. Whereas overall MLVA and spa typing showed the same discriminatory power to type LA-MRSA (p = 0.102), MLVA was more discriminatory than spa typing for isolates associated with the prevalent spa types t011 and t034 (Simpson’s Index of Diversity 0.564 vs. 0.429, respectively; p<0.001).ConclusionAlthough the applied MLVA scheme was not more discriminatory than spa typing in general, it added valuable information to spa typing results for specific spa types (t011, t034) which are highly prevalent in the study area, i.e. Dutch-German border area. Thus, both methods may complement each other to increase the discriminatory power to resolute highly conserved clones such as CC398 (spa types t011, t034) for the detection of outbreaks and molecular surveillance of zoonotic MRSA.
Highlights
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have emerged in livestock within the past years and are increasingly detected in humans [1,2,3,4]
Conclusion: the applied Multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeats analysis (MLVA) scheme was not more discriminatory than spa typing in general, it added valuable information to spa typing results for specific spa types (t011, t034) which are highly prevalent in the study area, i.e. DutchGerman border area
(LA-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)) isolates belong to a distinct MRSA lineage characterized by the clonal complex (CC) 398 as defined by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) [3]
Summary
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have emerged in livestock within the past years and are increasingly detected in humans [1,2,3,4]. Livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA) isolates belong to a distinct MRSA lineage characterized by the clonal complex (CC) 398 as defined by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) [3]. The increasing occurrence of livestock-associated (LA) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Associated with the clonal complex (CC) 398 within the past years shows the importance of standardized and comparable typing methods for the purposes of molecular surveillance and outbreak detection. Until now the applicability of MLVA for the typing of LA-MRSA isolates from different geographic origin has not been investigated in detail. We compared MLVA and S. aureus protein A (spa) typing for characterizing porcine.
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