Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, and BK 21 Program for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2010 Feb;20(2):425-32.
Staphylococcus intermedius is a common cause of otitis externa, pyoderma and wound infections in companion animals. Although S. intermedius infections are rare in humans, it is zoonotic, with several case reports describing fatal human infections. Presently, we sought to isolate S. intermedius strains from various sources at animal hospitals nationwide in Korea, examine their antibiotic susceptibilities, and determine the possibility of horizontal transmission between animals and humans. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used to compare the mecA gene in S. intermedius strains from humans, animals and the environment in animal hospitals. A total of 119 S. intermedius strains were isolated from 529 samples. Using the disk-diffusion method over 90% of the isolates were susceptible to cephalothin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, vancomycin, imipenem, nitroflurantoin and amikacin, whereas 97.5% and 98.3% of the isolates were resistant to penicillin and ampicillin, respectively. Among the 39 S. intermedius strains harbouring mecA, similar PFGE patterns were observed between seven isolates from an animal, two isolates from veterinary staff and the environment in one animal hospital, and single isolates from an animal and a veterinarian at another hospital. This result suggests the possibility of horizontal transmission of S. intermedius containing mecA between humans, animals and the environment in animal hospitals and also emphasizes on the importance of S. intermedius with mecA as a possible emerging threat to public health.
中间葡萄球菌是伴侣动物外耳炎、脓皮病和伤口感染的常见原因。虽然中间葡萄球菌感染在人类中很少见，但它具有人畜共患性，有几例报告描述了致命的人类感染。目前，我们试图从韩国全国各地的动物医院的各种来源分离中间葡萄球菌菌株，检查它们的抗生素敏感性，并确定动物和人类之间是否存在水平传播的可能性。脉冲场凝胶电泳（PFGE）用于比较来自人类、动物和动物医院环境的中间葡萄球菌菌株中的 mecA 基因。从 529 个样本中分离出 119 株中间葡萄球菌。使用圆盘扩散法，超过 90%的分离株对头孢噻吩、阿莫西林克拉维酸、万古霉素、亚胺培南、硝基呋喃妥因和阿米卡星敏感，而 97.5%和 98.3%的分离株分别对青霉素和氨苄西林耐药。在 39 株携带 mecA 的中间葡萄球菌中，从一个动物的七个分离株、两个兽医工作人员的分离株和一个动物医院的环境中观察到类似的 PFGE 模式，而另一个动物医院的一个动物和一名兽医各有一个分离株。这一结果表明，mecA 阳性中间葡萄球菌在人类、动物和动物医院环境之间存在水平传播的可能性，也强调了 mecA 阳性中间葡萄球菌作为一种可能对公共卫生构成新威胁的重要性。
