Abstract
Livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) remains a serious public health threat. Porcine nasal cavities are predominant habitats of LA-MRSA. Hence, components of their microbiota might be of interest as putative antagonistically acting competitors. Here, an extensive culturomics approach has been applied including 27 healthy pigs from seven different farms; five were treated with antibiotics prior to sampling. Overall, 314 different species with standing in nomenclature and 51 isolates representing novel bacterial taxa were detected. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from pigs on all seven farms sampled, comprising ten different spa types with t899 (n = 15, 29.4%) and t337 (n = 10, 19.6%) being most frequently isolated. Twenty-six MRSA (mostly t899) were detected on five out of the seven farms. Positive correlations between MRSA colonization and age and colonization with Streptococcus hyovaginalis, and a negative correlation between colonization with MRSA and Citrobacter spp. were found (p < 0.05). Of 209 non-S. aureus members of the Staphylococcaceae family, 25 isolates (12.0%) from three out of the seven farms exhibited methicillin resistance, including two Macrococcus goetzii isolates carrying the mecB gene. Among 125 Enterobacterales, none tested positive for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) and carbapenemase production. The high frequency of methicillin-resistant staphylococci supports the need for enhanced efforts within the “One Health” concept to manage the antibiotic resistance crisis in the human and veterinary medicine sector.
Highlights
Resistance to antimicrobial agents in microorganisms is on the rise and poses a global health threat
An important pathogen in this context is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): Almost 20,000 deaths were associated with 120,000 bloodstream infections in the USA alone in 2017 [2]
The conclusion of the authors that Staphylococcus was found to be an indicator operational taxon units (OTUs) for MRSA-negative pigs cannot be confirmed by our results because we have found staphylococci in all individuals and almost all samples (52/54) [31]
Summary
Resistance to antimicrobial agents in microorganisms is on the rise and poses a global health threat. An important pathogen in this context is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): Almost 20,000 deaths were associated with 120,000 bloodstream infections in the USA alone in 2017 [2]. While these numbers are generally lower in Germany, a mortality rate of 6.4% has still been reported for the same year by the Robert Koch Institute [3]. In order to combat colonization and eliminate reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, novel approaches are called for One of these is the investigation of the microbiota that could lead to discoveries with regard to synergistic or antagonistic interactions within microbial communities of certain habitats [4,5]
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