Egy hazai lógyógyászati konferencia résztvevőinek Staphylococcus aureus és meticillinrezisztens Staphylococcus aureus hordozása

Abstract

Infection with multidrug-resistant bacteria is a major risk factor for livestock and animal health workers. An important representative of these pathogens is Staphylococcus aureus, of which certain genetic lineages are able to colonise and cause infection in both animal and human hosts. We aimed to assess the proportion of equine veterinarians carrying this bacterium by sampling participants attending a Hungarian equine health conference and to investigate the public and animal health risk of the strains by detailed characterisation of the isolates. Our results show that 40% (10/25) of the sampled practitioners carried S. aureus, which is higher than the population average (20–30%). Six (60%) of the strains were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and five belonged to genotypes that are usually isolated from equine nosocomial infections or other clinical samples of horses, but their public health significance is negligible at present. Although the small sample number makes the estimation of the prevalence rate highly uncertain, it highlights the potential vector role of equine practitioners in the spread of MRSA and other multidrug-resistant bacteria outside the equine hospital environment.