A Retrospective Descriptive Study of Species Isolated from Canine Specimens Submitted to a Diagnostic Laboratory in South Africa, 2012-2017.

There is a scarcity of published studies on the occurrence of spp. Among dogs in South Africa. The objective of the study was to characterise the spp. Isolated from dog samples submitted to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory in South Africa in terms of time, place, and person. This study utilised a dataset of 1627 positive isolates obtained from a veterinary diagnostic laboratory in South Africa from 2012 to 2017. Out of the 1627 confirmed isolates, 10 different species of were identified. Among these, 92.0% were classified as coagulase-positive staphylococci (CoPS), 6.0% were coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), and 3.0% were coagulase-variable. Male dogs contributed just over half (53.2%) of the isolates, while female dogs contributed the remaining 46.8%. The largest proportion of isolates (23.2%) were obtained from dogs aged ≥ 9 years, with the highest number of isolates originating from KwaZulu-Natal Province (45.0%) and the least from Northern Cape Province (0.1%). Out of the total samples included in the records, the majority (46.0%) were skin specimens. The number of isolates recorded showed limited variation between the seasons (24.3% in autumn, 26.3% in winter, 26.0% in spring, and 24.0% in summer). This study highlighted the diversity of spp. isolated from dogs, and the burden of staphylococcal carriage among dogs in South Africa. Further research is required to examine the factors that contribute to the observed discrepancies in the proportions of spp. between the provinces.