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Diversity of Staphylococcus aureus clones in wild mammals in Aragon, Spain, with detection of MRSA ST130‐ mecC in wild rabbits
Author(s) -
RuizRipa L.,
Alcalá L.,
Simón C.,
Gómez P.,
Mama O.M.,
Rezusta A.,
Zarazaga M.,
Torres C.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1111/jam.14301
Subject(s) - staphylococcus aureus , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , sccmec , multilocus sequence typing , methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus , antibiotic resistance , staphylococcal infections , antimicrobial , genotype , antibiotics , gene , bacteria , genetics
Abstract Aims To determine the Staphylococcus aureus carriage rate in wild mammals in Aragon, northern Spain, to analyse their antimicrobial resistance phenotype/genotype and to characterize the recovered isolates. Methods and Results Nasal and rectal swabs of 103 mammals were collected in Aragón during the period 2012–2015. Antimicrobial susceptibility, the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes and virulence factors were investigated. Molecular characterization was carried out by spa , MLST, agr and SCC mec . Staphylococcus aureus were recovered from 23 animals (22%). Four of the 23 S. aureus were methicillin‐resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Three MRSA were mecC ‐positive and were isolated from European rabbits and were typed as t843 (ascribed to CC130). The remaining MRSA was a mecA ‐carrying isolate from European hedgehog, typed as ST1‐t386‐SCC mec IVa‐ agr III and it harboured the blaZ , erm (C), ant (6)‐Ia and aph (3´)‐IIIa resistance genes. A high diversity of spa ‐types was detected among the 19 methicillin‐susceptible S. aureus isolates, which showed high susceptibility to the antimicrobials tested. The tst gene and different combinations of staphylococcal enterotoxins were found. Conclusions Staphylococcus aureus were detected in nasal and rectal samples of wild mammals. Wild rabbits could be a reservoir of mecC ‐MRSA. Significance and Impact of the Study This work provides information on the presence and characteristics of S. aureus from mammals in a defined geographic region in Spain.