MRSA in Western European horses
MRSA in Western European horses Does your horse harbour dangerous bacteria up his nose? Horses carrying MRSA are more likely to develop infections themselves - and they can disseminate the organism to other animals or humans. |  |
In a study led by Dr Annelies Van den Eede, nasal swabs were collected from 110 horses presented to the Department of Surgery and Anaesthesiology at the Ghent University veterinary school in Belgium. The horses had come from Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Twelve of the horses (10.9%) were identified as carrying MRSA when they arrived at the clinic. Only one horse had an infected wound. The others were symptomless carriers.
Only one horse tested positive for MRSA when the swab was cultured using a direct culture technique. All of the others required special enrichment techniques to isolate the organism. If such techniques are not used it is likely that many symptomless carriers of MRSA would be missed.
Each isolate was genetically identified and tested for antibacterial sensitivity. Antimicrobial sensitivity testing showed that all the isolates were resistant to tetracycline and susceptible to sulfonamide and enrofloxacin. Susceptibility to other antibacterials varied. Five separate resistance patterns were identified.
What is the source of the infection? Dr Van den Eede points out that the ST398 strain of MRSA involved in these cases is a clone mainly isolated in pigs. However, more recently it has been found in horses, dogs, cows, chicken and humans.
"We call it a typical animal-related clone" she adds. "Un fortunately it seems to be spreading between several animal species and not only within horses or pigs. Recently human infections with this strain have been diagnosed."
For more details see:
High occurrence of methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398 in equine nasal samples.
A Van den Eede, A Martens, U Lipinska, M Struelens, A Deplano, O Denis, F Haesebrouck, F Gasthuys, K Hermans
Veterinary Microbiology (2008) 133, 138 - 144.
Reproduced with kind permission of Mark Andrews BVM&S CertEP MRCVS
© Copyright Mark Andrews - Equine Science Update 2008
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Added on: 01/12/08.
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