Molecular Typing and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profile of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates Recovered from Bovine Mastitis and Nasal Samples

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Staphylococcus aureus is a major, prevalent mastitis pathogen, representing a real issue for bovine udder health, with unquestionable importance in human and veterinary medicine. The present study thus aimed to determine the antimicrobial resistance and the diversity of S. aureus recovered from transient and persistent intramammary infections and from extramammary niches (e.g., nares/muzzles) in dairy cows. We found that a large proportion of S. aureus strains exhibited multidrug resistance to antimicrobials, including resistance to antimicrobials that are critically important to human health. S. aureus isolates from transient and persistent IMIs did not differ, suggesting that the persistence of bovine intramammary infections (IMIs) was mainly determined by host factors, although S. aureus isolated from extramammary niches are not an important source of S. aureus intramammary infections. Furthermore, a discrepancy in antimicrobial resistance between S. aureus strains isolated from nares/muzzles and intramammary infections was observed. ABSTRACT: In the present study, we aimed to determine the antimicrobial resistance and molecular typing of Staphylococcus aureus recovered from transient and persistent intramammary infections and nares/muzzles in dairy cows. We investigated the antimicrobial resistance of 189 S. aureus strains using a broad antimicrobial susceptibility profile. Furthermore, 107 S. aureus isolates were strain-typed using staphylococcal protein-A (spa) typing. A large proportion of strains exhibited multidrug resistance to antimicrobials, including resistance to critically important antimicrobials, although no methicillin-resistant S. aureus strains were found. Our study did not strengthen the idea that extramammary niches (i.e., nares/muzzles) are an important source of S. aureus for bovine mastitis. A discrepancy in the antimicrobial resistance between S. aureus strains isolated from nares/muzzles and milk samples was observed. Furthermore, S. aureus isolates from transient and persistent intramammary infections (IMIs) did not differ by spa typing, suggesting that the persistence of bovine IMIs was determined by cow factors. Thus, the high level of multidrug-resistant S. aureus found in the two herds, considered together with the predominance of a well udder-adapted S. aureus strain, may contribute to our knowledge of the history of the high prevalence of mastitis caused by S. aureus, which is of great concern for animal and public health.