Phenotypes and genotypes of old and contemporary porcine strains indicate a temporal change in the S. aureus population structure in pigs.

Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus sequence type ST398 has recently gained attention due to the spread of methicillin-resistant strains among people exposed to livestock. The aim of this study was to explore temporal changes in the population structure of S. aureus in pigs over the last 40 years with particular reference to the occurrence of ST398.

Low MRSA prevalence in horses at farm level.

Background: In Europe, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) belonging to the clonal complex (CC) 398 has become an important pathogen in horses, circulating in equine clinics and causing both colonization and infection. Whether equine MRSA is bound to hospitals or can also circulate in the general horse population is currently unknown. This study, therefore, reports the nasal and perianal MRSA screening of 189 horses on 10 farms in a suspected high prevalence region (East- and West-Flanders, Belgium).

Microbiological and molecular assessment of bacteriophage ISP for the control of Staphylococcus aureus.

The increasing antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations requires alternatives for classical treatment of infectious diseases and therefore drives the renewed interest in phage therapy. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major problem in health care settings and live-stock breeding across the world. This research aims at a thorough microbiological, genomic, and proteomic characterization of S.

Panton-Valentine leukocidin does play a role in the early stage of Staphylococcus aureus skin infections: a rabbit model.

Despite epidemiological data linking necrotizing skin infections with the production of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), the contribution of this toxin to the virulence of S. aureus has been highly discussed as a result of inconclusive results of in vivo studies. However, the majority of these results originate from experiments using mice, an animal species which neutrophils--the major target cells for PVL--are highly insensitive to the action of this leukocidin.

Antimicrobial resistance of old and recent Staphylococcus aureus isolates from poultry: first detection of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant strain ST398.

The susceptibilities of 12 antimicrobial agents for two collections of Staphylococcus aureus, isolated in the 1970s and in 2006 from poultry, were determined. For eight antibiotics, the percentage of resistance was significantly higher in the recent isolates. Ten recent isolates were methicillin resistant and had spa types t011 and t567, belonging to multilocus sequence type 398.