title: Prevalence and characteristics of methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci from livestock, chicken carcasses, bulk tank milk, minced meat, and contact persons.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MR-CNS) are of increasing importance to animal and public health. In veterinary medicine and along the meat and milk production line, only limited data were so far available on MR-CNS characteristics. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of MR-CNS, to identify the detected staphylococci to species level, and to assess the antibiotic resistance profiles of isolated MR-CNS strains.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After two-step enrichment and growth on chromogenic agar, MR-CNS were detected in 48.2% of samples from livestock and chicken carcasses, 46.4% of samples from bulk tank milk and minced meat, and 49.3% of human samples. Using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), 414 selected MR-CNS strains belonged to seven different species (S. sciuri, 32.6%; S. fleurettii, 25.1%; S. haemolyticus, 17.4%; S. epidermidis, 14.5%, S. lentus, 9.2%; S. warneri, 0.7%; S. cohnii, 0.5%). S. sciuri and S. fleurettii thereby predominated in livestock, BTM and minced meat samples, whereas S. epidermidis and S. haemolyticus predominated in human samples. In addition to beta-lactam resistance, 33-49% of all 414 strains were resistant to certain non-beta-lactam antibiotics (ciproflaxacin, clindamycin, erythromycin, tetracycline).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high prevalence of MR-CNS was found in livestock production. This is of concern in view of potential spread of mecA to S. aureus (MRSA). Multiresistant CNS strains might become an emerging problem for veterinary medicine. For species identification of MR-CNS isolated from different origins, MALDI-TOF MS proved to be a fast and reliable tool and is suitable for screening of large sample amounts.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene, Vetsuisse Faculty University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 272, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ziegler
authors.forename: Valentin
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pflüger
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zweifel
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stephan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000382:microbiology*; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology*; D003030:Coagulase / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D003030:Coagulase