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. 2017 Jan;72(1):60-63.
doi: 10.1093/jac/dkw389. Epub 2016 Sep 20.

Report of mecC-carrying MRSA in domestic swine

Ø Angen  1 , M Stegger  2 , J Larsen  2 , B Lilje  2 , H Kaya  2 , K S Pedersen  3 , A Jakobsen  3 , A Petersen  2 , A R Larsen  2
Affiliations

Report of mecC-carrying MRSA in domestic swine

Ø Angen et al. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Objectives: We unexpectedly identified MRSA isolates carrying mecC (mecC-MRSA) from a Danish swine farm located in eastern Zealand. The objective of the present study was to investigate the origin of these isolates and their genetic relatedness to other mecC-MRSA isolates from Zealand.

Methods: WGS was used to infer the phylogenetic relationship between 19 identified mecC-MRSA isolates from the swine farm and 34 additional epidemiologically unrelated human isolates from the same geographical region of Denmark. Variations in the accessory genome were investigated by bioinformatics tools, and antibiotic susceptibility profiles were assessed by MIC determination.

Results: mecC-MRSA was isolated from a domestic swine farm, but not from cattle reared at the same farm. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all mecC-MRSA isolates from both farm animals and workers formed a separate cluster, whereas human isolates from the same municipality belonged to a closely related cluster. Analysis of the accessory genome supported this relationship.

Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of mecC-MRSA isolated from domestic swine. The investigation strongly indicates that transmission of mecC-MRSA has taken place on the swine farm between the farmers and swine. The close clustering of farm isolates and isolates from the same municipality suggests a local transmission of mecC-MRSA.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Phylogenetic analysis of mecC-carrying S. aureus from Zealand. The phylogenetic relationship of 53 isolates was inferred using maximum likelihood based on 2530 SNPs, contained within 84% of the reference chromosome (2.35 Mb). W1–7, isolates from weaning pigs; F1–9, isolates from farrowing unit; H1a–c, isolates from farm worker; H2–6, human isolates from the same municipality as the farm; H7–35, human isolates from other parts of Zealand. The bar indicates substitutions per site, and is equivalent to ∼50 SNPs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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