Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius isolated from humans and pets – a comparison of drug resistance and risk factors associated with colonisation

	Location	Human (n¹ = 155)	Cat (n¹ = 28)	Dog (n¹ = 19)
S. aureus	oral cavity	47 (30.3%)	10 (35.7%)	4 (21.1%)
	nasal vestibule	68 (43.8%)	10 (35.7%)	7 (36.8%)
	conjunctival sac	not applicable	4 (14.3%)	2 (10.5%)
	ear²	24 (15.5%)	1 (3.6%)	1 (5.3%)
	skin in the elbow flexure	16 (10.3%)	not applicable	not applicable
	skin in the groin	not applicable	2 (7.1%)	2 (10.5%)
	anus	not applicable	0	1 (5.3%)
	wound	not applicable	1 (3.6%)	2 (10.5%)
	Location	Human (n¹ = 7)	Cat (n¹ = 17)	Dog (n¹ = 141)
S. pseudintermedius	oral cavity	0	3 (17.6%)	29 (20.6%)
	nasal vestibule	3 (42.9%)	5 (29.4%)	26 (18.4%)
	conjunctival sac	not applicable	4 (23.5%)	23 (16.3%)
	ear²	1 (14.2%)	2 (11.8%)	17 (12.1%)
	skin in the elbow flexure	3 (42.9%)	not applicable	not applicable
	skin in the groin	not applicable	2 (11.8%)	17 (12.1%)
	anus	not applicable	1 (5.9%)	26 (18.4%)
	wound	not applicable	0	3 (2.1%)

11 n – number of strains (%);

12 – in humans the skin behind the auricle was swabbed, and in animals the external auditory canal

Table 2.

Frequency of occurrence of Staphylococcus aureus and S. pseudintermedius strains carrying a given resistance gene in isolates from human, cat and dog swabs

Gene	Carriage rate
Gene	S. aureus (n¹ = 192)	S. pseudintermedius (n¹ = 165)
mecA²	17 (8.7%)	24 (14.5%)
mecC²	8 (4.1%)	5 (3.0%)
blaZ	153 (79.7%)	139 (84.2%)
tet[L]	0 (0%)	8 (4.8%)
tet[K]	14 (7.3%)	44 (26.7%)
tet[O]	11 (5.7%)	1 (0.6%)
tet[M]	102 (53.1%)	88 (53.3%)
ermA	57 (29.7%)	17 (10.3%)
ermB	44 (22.9%)	63 (38.2%)
ermC	9 (4.7%)	10 (6.1%)
aac (6′)-Ie-aph(2″)-Ia	9 (4.7%)	31 (18.8%)
mupA	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
vanA	24 (12.5%)	21 (12.7%)
vanB	6 (3.1%)	5 (3.0%)
fusB²	6 (3.1%)	1 (0.6%)

11 n – number of strains for which the presence of the indicated gene was successfully determined;

12 – n = 195 in S. aureus;

1 ³ – n = 191 in S. aureus

Table 3.

The incidence in isolates from human, cat and dog swabs of Staphylococcus aureus and S. pseudintermedius strains resistant to selected antimicrobial chemotherapeutics

Substance	S. aureus (n¹ = 202)	S. pseudintermedius (n¹ = 165)
Substance	Resistance	Resistance
AMP	126 (62.4%)	105 (63.6%)
AMC	57 (28.2%)	13 (7.9%)
PG	124 (61.4%)	118 (71.5%)
FD	4 (2.0%)	1 (0.6%)
MUP	7 (3.5%)	0 (0%)
GM	1 (0.5%)	22 (13.3%)
CIP	10 (5.0%)	18 (10.9%)
OX/FOX*	9 (4.5%)	20 (12.1%)
LZD	2 (1.0%)	0 (0%)
MAR	10 (5.0%)	18 (10.9%)
DA	11 (5.4%)	68 (41.2%)
C	4 (2.0%)	39 (23.6%)
RD	3 (1.5%)	0 (0%)
TOB	1 (0.5%)	9 (5.5%)
E	59 (29.2%)	68 (41.2%)

11 – n (%); AMP – ampicillin; AMC – amoxicillin with clavulanic acid; PG – penicillin G; FD – fusidic acid; MUP – mupirocin; GM – gentamicin; CIP – ciprofloxacin;

1* OX/FOX – oxacillin or cefoxitin (used to determine methicillin resistance for S. pseudintermedius and S. aureus, respectively); LZD – linezolid; MAR – marbofloxacin; DA – clindamycin; C – chloramphenicol; RD – rifampicin; TOB – tobramycin; E – erythromycin

Table 4.

Frequency distribution of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Staphylococcus aureus strains at the genotypic and phenotypic level by host species

Analysis level	Species	Not MDR	MDR	P-value²
Genotypic (n¹ = 192)	human	101 (68.2%)	47 (31.8%)	0.553
	cat	17 (65.4%)	9 (34.6%)
	dog	10 (55.6%)	8 (44.4%)
Phenotypic (n¹ = 202)	human	144 (92.9%)	11 (7.1%)	0.788
	cat	25 (96.2%)	1 (3.8%)
	dog	19 (90.5%)	2 (9.5%)

11 n – number of strains included in the statistical analysis in the calculation of multidrug resistance at a given level;

12 –Fisher’s exact test

Table 5.

Frequency distribution of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Staphylococcus pseudintermedius strains at the genotypic and phenotypic level by host species

Analysis level	Species	Not MDR	MDR	P-value¹
Genotypic (n = 165)	human	4 (57.1%)	3 (42.9%)	0.025
	cat	3 (17.6%)	14 (82.4%)
	dog	73 (51.8%)	68 (48.2%)
Phenotypic (n = 165)	human	4 (57.2%)	3 (42.8%)	0.939
	cat	9 (52. 9%)	8 (47.1%)
	dog	83 (58.9%)	58 (41.1%)

11 – Fisher’s exact test

Table 6.

Prevalence in isolates from human, cat and dog swabs of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains, chi-squared test of independence and odds ratio (OR) for the determinants of MRSA

Variable	MSSA (n (%)¹)	MRSA (n (%)¹)	OR	95% OR	P-value
Species
Human	1 (0.7)	6 (21.4)
Cat	9 (6.6)	8 (28.6)	1.45	0.56-3.73	0.443
Dog	127 (92.7)	14 (50.0)	1.16	0.36–3.75	0.806
Medical history
Treatment given to a human²	65 (48.5)	16 (50.0)	1.06	0.49–2.30	0.879
Antibiotics²	35 (27.6)	12 (41.4)	1.85	0.80–4.28	0.143
Factors associated with the animal
Antibiotics³	40 (42.6)	5 (17.2)	0.28	0.10–0.80	0.013
Cat with outdoor access	6 (75.0)	2 (50.0)	0.33	0.03–4.19	0.547

11 – CI 95%;

12 – treatment of sampled individuals in the year up to the examination;

13 – treatment of the animal with the antibiotics in the year up to the examination

Table 7.

Prevalence in isolates from human, cat and dog swabs of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus pseudintermedious (MSSP) and methicillin-resistant S. pseudintermedius (MRSP) strains, chi-squared test of independence and odds ratio (OR) for the determinants of MRSP

Variable	MSSP (n (%)¹)	MRSP (n (%)¹)	OR	95% OR	P-value
Species
Human	1 (0.7)	6 (21.4)
Cat	9 (6.6)	8 (28.6)	0.15	0.01–1.51	0.107
Dog	127 (92.7)	14 (50.0)	0.02	0.01–0.16	<0.001
Clinical symptom
Conjunctivitis	20 (14.7)	7 (35.0)	3.12	1.11–9.78	0.025
Inflammation of the ear canal	23 (16.9)	3 (15.0)	0.87	0.23–3.20	0.830
Rhinitis	6 (4.4)	5 (25.0)	7.22	1.96–26.54	<0.001
Dermatitis/wounds	37 (27.2)	6 (30.0)	1.15	0.41–3.21	0.794
Other clinical symptoms	15 (11.0)	6 (30.0)	3.46	1.15–10.35	0.020
Medical history
Treatment given to a human²	84 (63.2)	23 (92.0)	6.71	1.52–29.68	0.005
Antibiotics²	21 (28.0)	15 (71.4)	6.43	2.20–18.79	<0.001
Treatment given to the animal ³	59 (44.4)	16 (80.0)	5.02	1.59–15.81	0.003
Occupational risk
Medical studies⁴	0 (0)	1 (3.8)	0.16	0.11–0.23	0.024
Veterinary studies⁴	4 (3.0)	4 (15.4)	5.82	1.35–24.99	0.009
Origin of animals kept at home
Commercial breeder	13 (92.9)	7 (53.8)	0.09	0.01–0.90	0.021
Adopted from the street	4 (28.6)	1 (7.7)	0.21	0.02–2.18	0.163
Adopted from another source⁵	1 (7.1)	6 (46.2)	11.14	1.11–112.01	0.021
Factor associated with the animal
Cat with outdoor access	6 (66.7)	0 (0)	0.04	0.01–0.97	0.010

11 – CI 95%;

12 – treatment of sampled individuals in the year up to the examination;

13 – in the 1–4 months up to the examination;

14 – of the household member;

15 – from a source other than a kennel, from a shelter, from a charitable organisation or from neighbourhood streets, e.g. the cat was a kitten from a litter of a cat with outdoor access owned by personal acquaintances; bold indicates a statistically significant value

References

Authors

Metrics

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2025-0036 | Journal eISSN: 2450-8608 (formerly 2300-3235)

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Page range: 199 - 211

Submitted on: Jan 1, 2025

Accepted on: Jun 10, 2025

Published on: Jun 18, 2025

Published by: National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

cat,

dog,

human,

methicillin resistance,

multidrug resistance,

staphylococci

Related subjects:

Life sciences,

Molecular biology,

Microbiology and virology,

Life sciences, other,

Medicine,

Veterinary medicine

© 2025 Marta Miszczak, Agnieszka Korzeniowska-Kowal, Anna Wzorek, Paulina Prorok, Leszek Szenborn, Krzysztof Rypuła, Karolina Bierowiec, published by National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 69 (2025): Issue 2 (June 2025)