title: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST9 in pigs in Thailand.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important nosocomial and community-associated pathogen. Recently, livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA) has emerged and disseminated in Europe and North America and now constitutes a considerable zoonotic burden in humans with risk factors of pig exposure, whereas the extent of the livestock reservoir is relatively unknown on other continents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From March through April 2011, MRSA was identified in pigs from 3 out of 30 production holdings in Chang Mai Province, Thailand. Representative isolates were subjected to molecular characterization and antimicrobial susceptibility testing; all isolates had genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of LA-MRSA previously characterized in the region: they belonged to ST9, lacked the lukF-lukS genes encoding Panton-Valentine leukocidin, and were resistant to multiple non-β-lactam antimicrobials. However, unlike other Asian LA-MRSA-ST9 variants, they were spa type t337 and harbored a different staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec IX.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A novel MRSA-ST9 lineage has been established in the pig population of Thailand, which differs substantially from LA-MRSA lineages found in other areas of the continent. The emergence of novel LA-MRSA lineages in the animal agriculture setting is worrisome and poses a serious threat to global public health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiological Surveillance and Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark. JRL@ssi.dk
authors.forename: Jesper
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: Maho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imanishi
authors.forename: Soawapak
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hinjoy
authors.forename: Prasit
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tharavichitkul
authors.forename: Kwanjit
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Duangsong
authors.forename: Meghan F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Kenrad E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Anders R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Skov
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000502:physiology*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000382:microbiology*; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology