The increase of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the presence of an unusual sequence type ST49 in slaughter pigs in Switzerland

In years past, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) has been frequently detected in pigs in Europe, North America and Asia. Recent, yet sporadic studies have revealed a low occurrence of MRSA in Switzerland. In 2009, a monitoring survey of the prevalence and genetic diversity of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in slaughter pigs in Switzerland was conducted.

According to the results, in 2009, the nasal cavities of eight out of 405 randomly selected pigs were positive for MRSA, representing a prevalence of 2.0%. The following year, 23 out of 392 pigs were positive for MRSA (5.9% prevalence).

Three multilocus sequence types (ST), four spa types and two types of staphylococcal cassette
chromosome mec (SCCmec) elements were detected. The most frequent genotypes were ST398 (MLST)-(spa)t034-V (SCCmec) (n = 18) and ST49-t208-V (n = 7), followed by ST398-t011-V (n = 4), ST398-t1451-V (n = 1), and ST1-t2279-IVc (n = 1).

The isolates displayed resistance to ß-lactams, tetracycline, macrolides and lincosamides, tiamulin, trimethoprim, spectinomycin, streptomycin, sulphamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin.

This study is the first to describe the presence of MRSA ST49 in slaughter pigs, and to demonstrate a significant and nearly three-fold increase of MRSA prevalence in pigs within two years. The  presence of a specific clonal lineage of MRSA from Switzerland suggests that it has been selected in Swiss pig husbandry. Effective hygiene measures should be enhanced within the entire pig production chain to suppress the spread of these pathogens into the community.