Abstract
Simple SummaryStaphylococcus aureus contamination has been described in food-producing animals and farm workers involved in the primary industrial production of rabbits, pigs, cattle and poultry. This study describes the effects of age and colonization of body on S. aureus detection from rabbits raised intensively for meat production, and evaluates these parameters as possible risk factors for lesions by S. aureus. In addition, a genotypic characterization was performed for 96 S. aureus strains out of 595 that were isolated, including three from farm workers. It was observed that the risk of skin lesions increased with the number of colonized body sites and with age. All isolates were low-virulence methicillin-sensitive-Staphylococcus aureus (LV-MSSA). We found five different clonal lineages: spa-t2802, the most frequently detected (53.1%), also in all human samples; spa-t491, the second most detected (38.5%); spa-t094; t605; and spa-t2036. The same spa-type was observed in both animal and worker samples, showing that S. aureus strains could easily circulate in a community. The two most frequent strains were associated with noses, but not with age categories nor with the number of colonized sites. The circulation of LV-MSSA should not be underestimated, as they could determine damage or even acquire and spread resistance genes.A study in an intensive Italian rabbit farm was carried out to assess the effect of age category and anatomical site on detection of S. aureus and to describe the diversity of spa-types within farm, including workers. On 400 rabbits of different age, 2066 samples from the ear, nose, axilla, groin, perineum and lesions were analyzed and 595 S. aureus were isolated. In total, 284 (71.0%) were colonized by S. aureus in at least one anatomical site and 35 animals (8.8%) had lesions. S. aureus prevalence was higher in adults than other age categories. Ear (29.4%) and nose (27.2%) were the most frequently colonized sites. The presence of lesions due to S. aureus was strongly associated with the colonization of at least one body site and the risk of lesions was proportionate to the number of sites colonized by S. aureus. In addition, a genotypic characterization was performed for 96 S. aureus strains randomly selected. All isolates resulted as low-virulence methicillin-sensitive-Staphylococcus aureus (LV-MSSA). Five different clonal lineages were found: spa-t2802, the most frequently detected (53.1%), also in human samples; spa-t491 (38.5%); spa-t094; t605; and spa-t2036. Strains t094, t491 and t2036 have not been isolated in Italy before.
Highlights
In recent decades, the epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus infections has received growing attention because of their importance in veterinary medicine, and the increased evidence of their zoonotic potential
The overall prevalence of rabbits colonized by S. aureus in at least one body site was quite high (71.0%), being within the same range observed by Hermans et al [10] and Agnoletti et al [11], who reported a S. aureus prevalence of 60.5% in Belgian rabbit farms and 77.6% in Italian farms, respectively
All strains, including those isolated from skin lesions, resulted with low-virulence methicillin-sensitive-Staphylococcus aureus (LV-MSSA), suggesting that the mecA and mecC gene presence is still not a widespread problem in this type of breeding in our country, MRSA was isolated in commercial rabbits in 2014 [19,31]
Summary
The epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus infections has received growing attention because of their importance in veterinary medicine, and the increased evidence of their zoonotic potential. S. aureus is an extremely flexible organism: it can be a commensal and a dangerous and adaptable pathogen with high persistence and multiplication capacity in a wide variety of environments and conditions, able to cause a wide range of diseases in both humans and animals [1,2,3,4,5]. Staphylococcal infections cause considerable economic losses in all farming conditions, but in intensive farming, because of poor production performances, infertility, death, and the increased amount of slaughtering [9], with a prevalence ranging from 40% [10] to 70% [11]. Low virulence (LV) strains determine infections that remain limited to a small number of animals, and only have little economic importance; high virulence (HV) strains spread throughout the flock, leading to chronic problems and subsequent declines in production performances [17]
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