Comparison of spa types, SCCmec types and antimicrobial resistance profiles of MRSA isolated from the turkey meat production chain in Germany

The prevalence of MRSA in the turkey meat production chain in Germany was estimated within the national monitoring for zoonotic agents in 2009 and 2010. MRSA was isolated from all stages of the turkey meat production chain with a prevalence of 19.6% in dust samples on farm, 61.7- 65.5% in carcasses after slaughter and 32.0- 43.4% in turkey meat and meat products at retail. The specific distribution of spa types, SCCmec types and antimicrobial resistance profiles of MRSA isolates from primary production, slaughter and retail were analyzed using the chi square test of homogeneity and the Czekanowski index. It was hypothesized that the extent of similarity between the three levels of the specific food chain reflects the frequency of transmission. No significant differences between the spa type patterns of the different steps of the food chain were seen using the Chi-Square test for homogeneity. The Czekanowski index for spa type data was consistently high between the isolates from the different origins. Higher values were obtained between the adjacent process steps primary production/slaughter and slaughter/final product than between samples from primary production and meat. Lower values for similarity between samples from the turkey meat production chain and a control group of isolates from different origins indicate that spa types are a specific feature to distinguish between different sources. The similarity of the distribution of spa types between MRSA isolates from different process stages of turkey meat production gives evidence to suggest MRSA transmission along the chain. The comparison of the distribution of SCCmec types and antimicrobial resistance types did not lead to conclusive results due to the sufficient discriminatory power of SCCmec