Open AccessCharacterization of Staphylococcus aureus strains involved in human and bovine mastitis
Author(s) -
Delgado Susana,
García Pilar,
Fernández Leonides,
Jiménez Esther,
RodríguezBaños Mercedes,
del Campo Rosa,
Rodríguez Juan M.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
fems immunology & medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1574-695X
pISSN - 0928-8244
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-695x.2011.00806.x
Subject(s) - mastitis , biology , staphylococcus aureus , microbiology and biotechnology , virulence , antibiotic resistance , multilocus sequence typing , genetics , virology , antibiotics , genotype , gene , bacteria
Staphylococcus aureus is one of the main etiological agents of mastitis in different mammalian species. At present, it is unknown whether strains isolated from human mastitis cases share phenotypic properties and genetic background with those obtained from animal mastitis cases. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterize S. aureus strains isolated from women with lactational mastitis and to compare them with the strains responsible for bovine mastitis and noninfectious strains. All the strains were genotyped by both pulsed field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing and submitted to a characterization scheme that included diverse assays related to pathogenic potential and antibiotic resistance. Apart from siderophore production, no significant association was observed between the strains from bovine and human mastitis. Statistical differences between human‐ and bovine‐mastitis‐associated strains were detected for some traits and virulence determinants, such as the presence of prophages and cna and hlb genes, which were more frequently found within the bovine group. On the contrary, resistance to penicillin was significantly higher among strains isolated from human lactational mastitis, probably related to the common presence of the blaZ gene. A high genetic diversity was found among the strains involved in mastitis in breastfeeding women.