title: Prevalence and risk factors of Staphylococcus spp. carriage among dogs and their owners: A cross-sectional study.
abstract: This study investigated colonization and association of staphylococci between healthy dogs and their owners. In a cross-sectional study, nasal carriage and antibiotic susceptibility of isolated staphylococci were determined for 119 dogs and 107 owners. Relatedness of the Staphylococcus isolates in dogs and their owners was investigated using antibiograms, toxin profiles, and genotyping by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence type, and spa typing. Risk factors for carriage of methicillin-resistant staphylococci in dogs were also evaluated. Staphylococcus spp. were isolated from 65 (60.7%) owners and 44 (37.0%) dogs. The following species were isolated, listed in order of decreasing frequency: S. epidermidis, S. pseudintermedius, S. aureus, S. scheiferi subsp. coagulans, S. haemolyticus, S. sciuri, S. saprophyticus and S. warneri. S. pseudintermedius (65.9%) was the major isolate in dogs while S. epidermidis (81.5%) was the major type in owners. Among the isolates, 71.6% were methicillin resistant (MR) and 95.4% of the isolates demonstrated multi-drug resistance regardless of the origin. Only one dog-owner pair shared the same Staphylococcus spp. (S. pseudintermedius); however, the organisms were of different PFGE subtypes and exhibited different antibiotic resistance and toxin profiles while both isolates displayed same sequence type (ST365). While the dog-origin isolate showed spa type t02, the owner-origin isolate was negative to PCRs targeting spa gene sequence. Risk factor analysis showed that the presence of cohabitant animals was correlated with the nasal carriage of MR staphylococci in dogs. The cumulative data indicated that animal- and owner-origin staphylococci have various subtypes with high prevalence of MR; however, the bacteria are not shared between healthy dogs and their owners.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Wildlife Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonbuk National University, Iksan 54596, South Korea; Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Ik
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Cheol-Ho
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, South Korea. Electronic address: parkhee@konkuk.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Hee-Myung
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002353:Carrier State; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004285:Dogs; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D008875:Middle Aged; D009666:Nose / Q000382:microbiology; D015995:Prevalence; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
keywords: Dog owners; Dogs; Methicillin resistance; Nasal carriage; Staphylococci