title: Study of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Danish pigs at slaughter and in imported retail meat reveals a novel MRSA type in slaughter pigs.
abstract: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), especially CC398, have emerged in livestock worldwide. We investigated the occurrence of MRSA in pigs at slaughter and in retail meat. During 2009, nasal swabs (n=789) were taken from pigs at slaughter. Moreover, 866 meat samples [Danish: pork (153), broiler meat (121), beef (142) and; imported: pork (173), broiler meat (193), and beef (84)] were randomly collected in retail stores and outlets. MRSA was isolated from nasal swabs or from meat samples after preenrichment (Mueller Hinton broth with 6.5% NaCl), selective enrichment (tryptone soya broth with 4 mg/L cefoxitine and 75 mg/L aztreonam) and selective plating on Brilliance Chromogenic MRSA agar. The presence of mecA was confirmed by PCR and the MRSA isolates were spa typed. Novel MRSA spa types were characterized by MLST, PFGE and SCCmec typing. Thirteen percent (101/789) of the pigs had MRSA. Based on spa types 93% corresponded to CC398 (spa t011, t034, t1451, t2876, t2974), 4% to CC30 (t1333) and one isolate to CC1 (t0127). The spa type t1333 (CC30), which is common among methicillin susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) from pigs in Denmark, contained a SCCmec cassette type V and czrC zinc resistance gene. Imported broiler meat had the highest occurrence (18%) of MRSA, followed by imported pork (7.5%) and Danish pork (4.6%). MRSA ST398 was found for the first time in Danish beef (1.4%). The finding of MRSA CC30 (spa t1333) suggest possible spread of the SCCmec cassette normally associated with ST398 into another S. aureus lineage common in pigs.
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Microbial Genomics and Antimicrobial Resistance, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet Build. 204, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark. yvoa@food.dtu.dk
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Agersø
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hasman
authors.forename: Lina M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Cavaco
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Frank M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Aarestrup
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002417:Cattle / Q000382:microbiology; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology; D003718:Denmark; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005506:Food Contamination; D005516:Food Microbiology; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents