Antimicrobial Resistance and Molecular Epidemiology of from Hunters and Hunting Dogs.

Several studies have showed that a dog-to-human transmission of occurs. Hunting dogs do not have as much contact with their owners as dogs that live in the same household as the owners; however, these dogs have contact with their owners during hunting activities as well as when hunting game; therefore, we aimed to isolate from hunters and their hunting dogs to investigate a possible transmission. Nose and mouth samples were collected from 30 hunters and their 78 hunting dogs for staphylococcal isolation. The species identification was performed using MALDI-TOF. The antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were accessed using the Kirby-Bauer method and respective antimicrobial resistance genes were investigated by PCR. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and - and -typing was performed in all isolates. were detected in 10 (30%) human samples and in 11 (15.4%) dog samples of which 11 and 5 were methicillin-resistant (MRSA). Other staphylococci were identified, particularly, . Most isolates were resistant to penicillin, erythromycin, and tetracycline. Evidence of a possible transmission of between human and dogs was detected in three hunters and their dogs. isolates were ascribed to 10 STs and 9 -types. A moderate colonization of in hunting dogs and their owners was detected in this study. A few dog-to-dog and dog-to-human possible transmissions were identified.