Omic tools to characterize methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) recovered from wild animals: the labile epidemiology of virulence and drug resistance

Sousa, Margarida Andrade de; Torres Manrique, María del Carmen; Caniça, Maria Manuela Marin; Poeta, Patrícia

Omic tools to characterize methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) recovered from wild animals: the labile epidemiology of virulence and drug resistance

2027 | 2024

Sousa, Margarida Andrade de | Torres Manrique, María del Carmen | Caniça, Maria Manuela Marin | Poeta, Patrícia

Antibiotic resistance is an emerging public health concern, and the scientific community recognizes the need to evaluate its epidemiology. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are one of the keys to this problem. Apart from the hospital concern, MRSA are becoming increasingly common in infections associated to both human and animal communities with high rates of antibiotic resistance. In 2012, more than 50% of the Portuguese hospital S. aureus isolates were methicillin-resistant: the highest rate in Europe, anyhow, with corrective measures this number decreased to 25% in 2021. Many countries have developed and implemented national recommendations and guidance documents on the prevention of spread of MRSA, focusing on both improved infection prevention and control and prudent antimicrobial use. There was no information on the prevalence of MRSA in wild animals at the time. For this reason, this thesis aimed to determine the prevalence of these bacteria in wild animals as well as to characterize the resistance genes, virulence and genetic lineages circulating in this ecosystem, supposedly free from antibiotic use. We present a study on antimicrobial resistance associated with antibiotics in clinical use, the expression of resistance/virulence genes and the results are compared with the respective genome sequencing, transcriptome, and available protein profile. These results will help us to understand the epidemiology of MRSA. Epidemiology of antibiotic resistance provides an effective approach to understand the complex multidirectional exchange of pathogens among humans, wildlife, and domestic animals in a one health perspective.

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