Phenotypic and Genotypic Characterization of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) from Different Sources in China

A diverse collection of 261 Staphylococcus aureus strains from human, animal, food, and environmental sources were tested for the presence and type of SCCmec elements, antibiotic susceptibility to various antibiotics, and non-beta-lactam antibiotic resistance genes. About 18.39% (48/261) of strains were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) including 29.75% (36/121) human strains of which 29 strains were hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA) and 7 strains were community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) and 19.67% (12/61) animal strains that all were CA-MRSA strains. The percentage of CA-MRSA strains from animals was significantly higher than that from human (p < 0.01). Most of MRSA strains and a part of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) strains harbored unique combinations of non-beta-lactamase genes aac(6')/aph(2 ''), aph(3')-III, ant (4',4 ''), ermA, ermC, mrsA, tetM, and tetK. Antibiotic resistance genes were detected more frequently in HA-MRSA strains than in CA-MRSA strains (p < 0.01). MRSA strains and MSSA strains had 22 and 39 antibiotic profiles to 15 tested antibiotics, respectively. The resistant proportion was higher in HA-MRSA strains than in CA-MSSA strains for various antibiotics, as well as higher in MRSA strains than in MSSA strains. Animal MRSA reservoirs (particularly pigs and cows) might represent an important source of human CA-MRSA. CA-MRSA strains might acquire more different resistance genes gradually, depending on the selective pressure of antibiotics in different regions or environments. CA-MRSA is not yet endemic in China, but could be prevalent in future, contributing to its acquiring more resistance genes and huge animal sources. Infection with multidrug-resistant MSSA strains acquired from food, animal, and human sources might also become a significant problem for human medicine, which warrants further study.