Human-to-Dog Transmission of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was cultured from the nose of a healthy dog whose owner was colonized with MRSA while she worked in a Dutch nursing home. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and typing of the staphylococcal chromosome cassette mec (SCCmec) region showed that both MRSA strains were identical

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Dutch Soccer Team

An outbreak of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus occurred among members and close contacts of a soccer team. Typing of the isolates showed the outbreak was caused by the well-known European ST80-IV strain. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an outbreak of this strain among members of a sports team

Community-acquired MRSA and pig-farming

BACKGROUND: Sporadic cases of CA-MRSA in persons without risk-factors for MRSA carriage are increasing. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a MRSA cluster among family members of a pig-farmer, his co-workers and his pigs. Initially a young mother was seen with mastitis due to MRSA. Six months later her baby daughter was admitted to the hospital with pneumococcal otitis. After staying five days in hospital, the baby was found to be MRSA positive. At that point it was decided to look for a possible source, such as other family members and house-hold animals, including pigs on the farm, since those were reported as a possible source of MRSA earlier. Swabs were taken from the throat and nares of family members and co-workers. A veterinarian obtained swabs from the nares, throat and perineum of 10 pigs. Swabs were cultured following a national protocol to detect MRSA that included the use of an enrichment broth. Animal and human strains were characterized by PFGE, spa-typing, MLST analysis, SSCmec, AGR typing, and the detection for PVL, LukM, and TSST toxin genes. Three family members, three co-workers, and 8 of the 10 pigs were MRSA positive. With the exception of the initial case (the mother) all persons were solely colonized, with no signs of clinical infections. After digestion with SmaI, none of the strains showed any bands using PFGE. All isolates belonged to spa type t108 and ST398. CONCLUSION: 1. This report clearly shows clonal spread and transmission between humans and pigs in the Netherlands. 2. MLST sequence type 398 might be of international importance as pig-MRSA, since this type was shown earlier to be present in epidemiologically unrelated French pigs and pig-farmers. 3. Research is needed to evaluate whether this is a local problem or a new source of MRSA, that puts the until now successful Search and Destroy policy of the Netherlands at risk

Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhimurium DT 104 Antibiotic Resistance Genomic Island I in Serotype Paratyphi B

We have identified Salmonella genomic island I (SGI1) in an isolate of Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi B. This antibiotic-resistance gene cluster, which confers multidrug resistance, has been previously identified in S. enterica serotype Typhimurium phage types DT 104 and DT 120 and in S. enterica serotype Agona

Pneumonia and New Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clone

Necrotizing pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus aureus strains carrying the Panton-Valentin leukocidin gene is a newly described disease entity. We report a new fatal case of necrotizing pneumonia. An S. aureus strain with an agr1 allele and of a new sequence type 377 was recovered, representing a new, emerging, community-acquired methicillin-resistant clone

Role of Electronic Data Exchange in an International Outbreak Caused by Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhimurium DT204b

From July through September 2000, patients in five European countries were infected with a multidrug-resistant strain of Salmonella Typhimurium DT204b. Epidemiologic investigations were facilitated by the transmission of electronic images (Tagged Image Files) of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis profiles. This investigation highlights the importance of standardized protocols for molecular typing in international outbreaks of foodborne disease

Detection of Pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica by a Rapid and Sensitive Duplex PCR Assay

A duplex PCR assay targeting the ail and 16S rRNA genes of Yersinia enterocolitica was developed to specifically identify pathogenic Y. enterocolitica from pure culture. Validation of the assay was performed with 215 clinical Yersinia strains and 40 strains of other bacterial species. Within an assay time of 4 h, this assay offers a very specific, reliable, and inexpensive alternative to the conventional phenotypic assays used in clinical laboratories to identify pathogenic Y. enterocolitica

Antibiotic resistance, integrons and Salmonella genomic island 1 among non-typhoidal Salmonella serovars in The Netherlands.

The objective of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial resistance patterns, integron characteristics and gene cassettes as well as the presence of Salmonella genomic island 1 (SGI1) in non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) isolates from human and animal origin. Epidemiologically unrelated Dutch NTS strains (n=237) originating from food-producing animals and human cases of salmonellosis were tested for their susceptibility to 15 antimicrobial agents. Resistance to 14 of these antimicrobials, including the third-generation cephalosporins, was detected. Resistance to sulphonamides, ampicillin, tetracycline, streptomycin, trimethoprim and nalidixic acid was common (>/=10% of the strains were resistant). Resistance against three or more antimicrobials was observed in 57 isolates. The same 237 strains were studied for the prevalence of class 1 integrons, their gene cassettes and the presence of SGI1. Thirty-six isolates (15.2%) carried class 1 integrons. These integrons had ten distinct profiles based on the size of the integron and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Integrons were detected for the first time in serovars Indiana and Senftenberg. Multidrug resistance was strongly associated with the presence of class 1 integrons in which the aadA2, aadA1, bla(PSE-1), dfrA1, dfrA5, dfrA14 or sat genes were present, as determined by nucleotide sequence determination. The presence of gene cassettes or combinations of gene cassettes not previously found in integrons in Salmonella was observed. SGI1 or its variants (SGI-B, -C and -F) were present in 16 isolates belonging to either serovar Typhimurium, Derby or Albany. Regardless of whether the isolate was of human or animal origin, the same resistance phenotype, integron profile and SGI1 structure could be observed