Multidrug-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci in food animals

Aims To study the antimicrobial resistance of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) in animals. Methods and Results In the present study, a total of 87 CoNS recovered from food animals were characterized by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, resistance gene identification and conjugation. Of the seven species studied, Staphylococcus lentus, Staphylococcus sciuri, Staphylococcus xylosus and Staphylococcus haemolyticus accounted for over 96% of the isolates. In addition to beta-lactam resistance (100%), high percentages of CoNS were resistant to tetracycline (67.8%), erythromycin (36.7%), clindamycin (27.5%) and quinopristin/dalfopristin (14.9%). Importantly, 47 (54%) isolates were resistant to at least three antimicrobial classes, including six CoNS resistant to six antimicrobial classes. The common genes for the above-mentioned resistance phenotypes were mec(A), tet(M), erm(A) and vga(A)LC, which were identified from 68.7%, 61%, 56.2% and 69.2% of the isolates, respectively. tet(M) was conjugatively transferable from 10 tetracycline-resistant CoNS to a Enterococcus strain, underlining the potential of antimicrobial resistance transfer from Staphylococcus to the commensal bacteria in human. Conclusions Multidrug resistance and resistance to non-beta-lactam antimicrobials are common in CoNS in animals. Significance and Impact of the Study The data improve our understanding on the extent to which CoNS contribute to the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in the food production environment.