Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Livestock veterinarians at high risk of acquiring methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398

2011; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 140; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0950268811002263

1469-4409

Cristina Garcı́a-Graells, Jérôme Antoine, Jesper Larsen, Boudewijn Catry, Robert Skov, Olivier Denis,

Bacterial Identification and Susceptibility Testing

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.