Abstract
Livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) has been reported to colonize and cause infections in animals as well as in humans. LA-MRSA isolates have only recently been identified in patients admitted to Kuwait hospitals. This study was conducted to characterize LA-MRSA isolates obtained from patients admitted to Kuwait hospitals. A total of 202 (7.1%) of 2,823 MRSA isolates obtained from clinical samples in 2016 and 2017 in 11 public Kuwait hospitals were assigned to lineages previously known to be associated with livestock. They were characterized using antibiogram, spa typing, and DNA microarray for the assignment of clonal complexes (CCs) and detection of antibiotic resistance and virulence determinants. Identification as putative LA-MRSA clones was based on the molecular definition inferred from DNA microarray. The LA-MRSA isolates consisted of CC96 (N = 31), CC97 (N = 169), and CC398 (N = 2). Isolates belonging to CC96 and CC398 were resistant to erythromycin and clindamycin mediated by erm(A) and erm(C). CC97 isolates were multiresistant to gentamicin, kanamycin, erythromycin, clindamycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, fusidic acid, trimethoprim, and ciprofloxacin and harbored aacA-aphD, erm(A), erm(C), msr(A), tet(K), cat, fusC, and dfrS1. In total, 35 spa types were identified among the isolates. CC398 isolates consisted of t899 and t034. Ten spa types were identified among CC96 with t11822 (N = 13) as the most prevalent. CC97 consisted of 26 spa types with most belonging to t267 (N = 73) followed by t359 (N = 39). CC398 was composed of CC398-MRSA-IV and CC398-MRSA-V (PVL+). CC96 belonged to CC96-MRSA-IV and CC96-MRSA-IV (PVL+) Central Asian caMRSA/WA MRSA-119. CC97 consisted of six strains including CC97-MRSA-V (fusC+), CC97-MRSA-IV WA MRSA-54/63, CC97-MRSA-V, CC97-MRSA-(V+fus), CC97-MRSA-(mec VI+fus), and CC97-MRSA (mecV/VT+fus+ccrAB2). Whereas CC96 and CC97 isolates were identified in 2016 and 2017, CC398 isolates were detected only in 2016. This study identified four LA-MRSA clones among MRSA isolated from patients in Kuwait hospitals in 2016–2017 with CC97-MRSA-V (fusC+) as the dominant clone. The presence of LA-MRSA with different genetic backgrounds suggests its independent acquisition from different sources.
Highlights
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an opportunistic pathogen that colonizes humans as well as animals (Kluytmans et al, 1997)
2,823 isolates selected on the basis of spa types were analyzed by DNA microarray to assign the isolates into clonal complexes (CCs)
The Livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) isolates that belonged to CC96 (31 isolates), CC97 (169 isolates), and CC398 (2 isolates) were identified as LA-MRSA
Summary
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an opportunistic pathogen that colonizes humans as well as animals (Kluytmans et al, 1997). MRSA causes a wide range of infections including skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs), and invasive infections such as pneumonia and endocarditis (Gordon and Lowy, 2008). Since it was first reported in the United Kingdom (Jevons, 1961), MRSA has evolved into three types, including health-care-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA), which was isolated from patients in health-care settings (Campanile et al, 2010); community-acquired MRSA (CAMRSA), which was initially isolated from healthy individuals with no previous exposure to health-care facilities (Udo et al, 1993); and the new strains that were associated with livestock in the early 2000s (Armand-Lefevre et al, 2005; Voss et al, 2005), which were designated as livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA). These LA-MRSA lineages were able to break the species barrier to colonize and cause infections in humans with or without contact with livestock (Fitzgerald, 2012; Hetem et al, 2013)
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