Epidemiology and Infection
- Epidemiology and Infection / Volume 140 / Issue 03 / March 2012, pp 383-389
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0950268811002263 (About DOI), Published online: 15 November 2011
MRSA
Livestock veterinarians at high risk of acquiring methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398
C. GARCIA-GRAELLSa1 c1, J. ANTOINEa2, J. LARSENa3, B. CATRYa2, R. SKOVa3 and O. DENISa1
a1 Laboratoire de Référence MRSA – Staphylocoques, Department of Microbiology, Université Libre Bruxelles-Hôpital Erasme, Brussels, Belgium
a2 Healthcare Associated Infections & Antimicrobial Resistance, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium
a3 Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
SUMMARY
The prevalence and risk factors associated with livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA) carriage was examined in Danish and Belgian veterinarians. The MRSA and LA-MRSA carriage rates were 9·5% (95% CI 5·3–15·6) and 7·5% (95% CI 3·8–13·1) for MRSA and LA-MRSA, respectively, in Belgium and 1·4% (95% CI: 0·17–5·05) in Denmark (all Danish MRSA isolates belonged to the LA-MRSA genotype). All LA-MRSA isolates were resistant to tetracycline and 53·4% (7/13) showed a multi-resistant phenotype. LA-MRSA was significantly associated with veterinarians in contact with livestock (P=0·046). In the multivariable analysis, working with small animals in a veterinary clinic seems to be negatively associated (OR 0·15, 95% CI 0–1·0, P=0·05) and a strong direct association was found for LA-MRSA acquisition and exposure to live pigs (OR 12·1, 95% CI 1·6–548·5, P=0·01). Since carriage of MRSA ST398 may increase the risk of complications during hospitalization, our results underline that preventive measures may need to be developed for veterinary professionals, particularly for livestock veterinarians.
(Accepted October 10 2011)
(Online publication November 15 2011)
Correspondence:
c1 Author for correspondence: Dr C. Garcia-Graells, Laboratoire de Référence MRSA – Staphylocoques, Department of Microbiology, Université Libre Bruxelles-Hôpital Erasme, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium. (Email: cgarciag@ulb.ac.be)
Footnotes
Preliminary results of this work were presented as a poster entitled ‘High Occurrence of MRSA strains from diverse genetic background among Belgian veterinarians’, at the 20th ISSSI, Bath, UK, 2010.
