title: Clonal transmission of a rare methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus genotype between horses and staff at a veterinary teaching hospital.
abstract: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection or colonization has become a serious emerging condition in equine hospitals. Following the detection of MRSA in asymptomatic hospitalized horses and in two horses with post-operative wound infections, an investigation was conducted. Twelve of 84 horses (14.3%) and 16 of 139 personnel (11.5%) were MRSA carriers. The profile of the dominant MRSA strain common to horses and staff was multi-drug-resistant, spa-type t535, SCCmec type V, pvl-negative. MLST of a representative isolate yielded sequence type (ST) 5. The risk of MRSA carriage among veterinary personnel was greater in equine veterinarians and full-time technicians in comparison to part-time technicians and to other personnel not working with horses. Strict infection control measures were implemented, horses infected or colonized with MRSA were isolated and decolonization of personnel was attempted. Six months after the intervention, the large animal department personnel and hospitalized horses were all MRSA-negative and the decolonization was considered successful. This outbreak, caused by a rare MRSA strain and involving both hospitalized horses and personnel, further demonstrates the ability of MRSA to spread between animals and humans and emphasizes the importance of infection control measures to decrease the risk for MRSA colonization and infection of both horses and personnel.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Infection Control, Israel Ministry of Health, 6 Weizmann St., Tel Aviv 64239, Israel.
authors.forename: Mitchell J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Schwaber
authors.affiliation: National Center for Infection Control, Israel Ministry of Health, 6 Weizmann St., Tel Aviv 64239, Israel.
authors.forename: Shiri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Navon-Venezia
authors.affiliation: National Center for Infection Control, Israel Ministry of Health, 6 Weizmann St., Tel Aviv 64239, Israel.
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Masarwa
authors.affiliation: Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, POB 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tirosh-Levy
authors.affiliation: National Center for Infection Control, Israel Ministry of Health, 6 Weizmann St., Tel Aviv 64239, Israel.
authors.forename: Amos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.affiliation: National Center for Infection Control, Israel Ministry of Health, 6 Weizmann St., Tel Aviv 64239, Israel.
authors.forename: Inna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Chmelnitsky
authors.affiliation: National Center for Infection Control, Israel Ministry of Health, 6 Weizmann St., Tel Aviv 64239, Israel.
authors.forename: Yehuda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Carmeli
authors.affiliation: Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, POB 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Klement
authors.affiliation: Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, POB 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Electronic address: Steinman@agri.huji.ac.il.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steinman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002353:Carrier State / Q000662:veterinary; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D005838:Genotype; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission*; D006736:Horses; D006762:Hospitals, Animal; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000635:transmission* / Q000662:veterinary*; D018634:Veterinarians; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission*