Prevalence and risk factors of Staphylococcus spp. carriage among dogs and their owners: A cross-sectional study

- This study investigated colonization and association of staphylococci between healthy dogs and their owners.
- The isolated staphylococci showed a high prevalence of methicillin resistance (MR).
- Most of the isolated staphylococci displayed multiple antibiotic resistance.
- Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, isolated from one dog and its owner.
- The presence of other animals increased the risk factor for MR staphylococci.

This study investigated colonization and association of staphylococci between healthy dogs and their owners. In a cross-sectional study, nasal carriage and antibiotic susceptibility of isolated staphylococci were determined for 119 dogs and 107 owners. Relatedness of the Staphylococcus isolates in dogs and their owners was investigated using antibiograms, toxin profiles, and genotyping by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence type, and spa typing. Risk factors for carriage of methicillin-resistant staphylococci in dogs were also evaluated. Staphylococcus spp. were isolated from 65 (60.7%) owners and 44 (37.0%) dogs. The following species were isolated, listed in order of decreasing frequency: S. epidermidis, S. pseudintermedius, S. aureus, S. scheiferi subsp. coagulans, S. haemolyticus, S. sciuri, S. saprophyticus and S. warneri. S. pseudintermedius (65.9%) was the major isolate in dogs while S. epidermidis (81.5%) was the major type in owners. Among the isolates, 71.6% were methicillin resistant (MR) and 95.4% of the isolates demonstrated multi-drug resistance regardless of the origin. Only one dog-owner pair shared the same Staphylococcus spp. (S. pseudintermedius); however, the organisms were of different PFGE subtypes and exhibited different antibiotic resistance and toxin profiles while both isolates displayed same sequence type (ST365). While the dog-origin isolate showed spa type t02, the owner-origin isolate was negative to PCRs targeting spa gene sequence. Risk factor analysis showed that the presence of cohabitant animals was correlated with the nasal carriage of MR staphylococci in dogs. The cumulative data indicated that animal- and owner-origin staphylococci have various subtypes with high prevalence of MR; however, the bacteria are not shared between healthy dogs and their owners.