Files
Abstract
Increases in antimicrobial resistance among Staphylococcus genus is of growing concern in both human and veterinary medicine, principally because of the recent emergence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Veterinary medicine has seen a parallel increase in the number of cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococci in companion animals. This is the most complete epidemiologic study comparing the genetic relatedness and characterization of human and companion animal MRSA isolates in the same study. It demonstrated that both companion animals and people may be infected by the same strains of MRSA and that a zoonotic potential exists. However, our study also revealed that some MRSA strains may be better suited to cause disease in animal hosts. To our knowledge, this is also the first report of these SCCmec type VII and its variant elements in S. aureus, S. pseudintermedius, S. schleiferi subsp. coagulans, and S. schleiferi subsp. schleiferi isolated in the United States.