Abstract
Staphylococci are common causes of healthcare-associated and community-associated infections. However, limited data are available on the prevalence, phenotypes and molecular characteristics of Staphylococci in metro system around the world. 320 surface samples were collected from the Guangzhou metro system to isolate and characterize Staphylococci strains. Of the samples, 75.6% (242/320) were contaminated with Staphylococci. The Staphylococci isolates, especially the methicillin resistant isolates, were resistance to most of the antibiotics, with 79.8% (193/242) classified as multidrug resistant (MDR) strains. 8 strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carried a range of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) types [I (1), II (3), III (2) and NT (2)]. Staphylococcus aureus isolates were classified into several ST types and showed possible cross transmissions of strains from various sources. All MRSA strains were positive for the qac gene, and only one methicillin-susceptible Staphylococci aureus (MSSA) strain was positive for the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes. This study demonstrated that environmental surfaces in the Guangzhou metro system may be a hazardous reservoir for transmission of Staphylococci to passengers. The resistance to antibiotics and disinfectants observed among isolates was also noteworthy.
Highlights
The Guangzhou metro system has an average of 5 million passengers daily and the environment is highly enclosed, which creates an ideal setting for the accumulation and transmission of Staphylococci among passengers
Of the 320 surface samples collected from the stations and carriages in the metro system, a total of 8 samples (2.5%) were Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-positive, 28 samples (8.75%) were methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA)-positive, 21 samples (6.56%) were methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) (MRCoNS)-positive, 185 samples (57.81%) were methicillin-susceptible CoNS (MSCoNS)-positive, and 78 samples (24.38%) were Staphylococci-negative
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic study to report the occurrence and characteristics of Staphylococci strains from environmental surfaces in a metro system of the world
Summary
The Guangzhou metro system has an average of 5 million passengers daily and the environment is highly enclosed, which creates an ideal setting for the accumulation and transmission of Staphylococci among passengers. In this cross-sectional study, the aims were to elucidate the prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibilities, and molecular characteristics of Staphylococci strains contaminating metro surfaces in Guangzhou, China. All Staphylococci isolates were further tested to confirm the presence of the mecA gene[12].
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