Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Methicillin-resistant staph bacteria on healthy and inflamed dog skin
By Griffeth, Gregory C et al.·Published in Veterinary dermatology·2008·Department of Clinical Studies, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Screening for skin carriage of methicillin-resistant coagulase-positive staphylococci and Staphylococcus schleiferi in dogs with healthy and inflamed skin.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at skin infections in dogs, finding that 88% of dogs with skin problems carried certain bacteria, including Staphylococcus intermedius, which can be resistant to common antibiotics. In contrast, 74% of healthy dogs also had these bacteria, but the rates of antibiotic resistance were much lower. The researchers collected samples from both healthy dogs and those with skin issues to understand how common these bacteria are and how resistant they are to treatment. While methicillin-resistant strains were found, they were less common in this group of dogs than previously reported.
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Abstract
Methicillin resistance rates of 41% for Staphylococcus aureus, 16% for S. intermedius, and 40% for S. schleiferi have recently been reported in canine patients. These were deemed to be reflective of referral and clinician-selection biases, which would imply significantly lower methicillin-resistant staphylococcal carriage rates in less-biased canine populations. In this study, swabs for bacterial culture were collected from five cutaneous sites on each of 50 healthy dogs and 59 dogs with inflammatory skin disease to determine prevalence of carriage and relative frequency of methicillin resistance in coagulase-positive staphylococci and S. schleiferi ssp. schleiferi. These were identified morphologically and by Gram's staining, catalase and coagulase testing, and biochemical speciation. Coagulase-positive staphylococci and S. schleiferi ssp. schleiferi were isolated from 88% (52 of 59) of affected dogs. Species identified in the culture-positive dogs were: S. aureus in 12%, S. intermedius (92%), S. schleiferi ssp. schleiferi (10%), and S. schleiferi ssp. coagulans (10%) with methicillin resistance rates of 17%, 8%, 20% and 20%, respectively. Coagulase-positive staphylococci were isolated from 74% (37 of 50) of healthy dogs: S. aureus (16%), S. intermedius (92%) and S. schleiferi ssp. coagulans (5%). Methicillin resistance rates were 0%, 3% and 50%, respectively. Of total methicillin-resistant isolates, 11 of 13 were positive for PBP2a via latex agglutination. Methicillin-resistant S. intermedius and S. schleiferi ssp. schleiferi isolates were all positive for the mecA gene via PCR. There was no significant difference in staphylococcal isolation or methicillin resistance between study groups. While present, methicillin-resistant coagulase-positive staphylococci are significantly less common in these less-biased populations than in the clinical isolates previously reported from this institution which provided the impetus for this study.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18477330/