Prevalence and distribution of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus within the environment and staff of a university veterinary clinic.
OBJECTIVE
To characterise the distribution of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus within the environment of a university small animal hospital and compare this with the distribution among staff.


METHODS
Samples were collected from 140 environmental sites and the anterior nares of 64 staff members at the University of Glasgow Small Animal Hospital on a single day (d1). Sixty of the environmental sites were resampled 14 days later (d14).


RESULTS
Meticillin-resistant S aureus was isolated from two of 140 (1.4 per cent; 95 per cent confidence interval: 1.7 to 5.1) environmental sites on d1 and one of 60 (1.7 per cent; 95 per cent confidence interval: 0.4 to 8.9) on d14. Two of the 64 staff sampled were positive for meticillin-resistant S aureus (3.1 per cent; 95 per cent confidence interval: 0.4 to 8.4).


CONCLUSIONS
A lower prevalence of meticillin-resistant S aureus was observed in the environment than previously reported. The location, relatedness between isolates and the presence of Panton-Valentine leucocidin indicates that the source of the environmental meticillin-resistant S aureus was most likely to have been human rather than animal in these cases. This study presents important information regarding the potential source and distribution of meticillin-resistant S aureus within veterinary hospital environments and highlights potential variability of prevalence of meticillin-resistant S aureus within and between veterinary institutions.
Heller
J
J
Boyd Orr Centre for Population and Ecosystem Health, Institute of Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH.
Armstrong
S K
SK
Girvan
E K
EK
Reid
S W J
SW
Moodley
A
A
Mellor
D J
DJ