Effectiveness of ear skin swabs for monitoring methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398 in pigs at abattoirs

Yoshimasa SASAKI; Haruko SAKURADA; Makiko YAMANAKA; Kazuhisa NARA; Shigeko TANAKA; Masashi UEMA; Yoshikazu ISHII; Yutaka TAMURA; Tetsuo ASAI

doi:10.1292/jvms.20-0592

Public Health

Effectiveness of ear skin swabs for monitoring methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398 in pigs at abattoirs

Yoshimasa SASAKI, Haruko SAKURADA, Makiko YAMANAKA, Kazuhisa NARA, Shigeko TANAKA, Masashi UEMA, Yoshikazu ISHII, Yutaka TAMURA, Tetsuo ASAI

Author information

Yoshimasa SASAKI
Division of Biomedical Food Research, National Institute of Health Sciences, 3-25-26 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 210-9501, Japan
Department of Applied Veterinary Science, the United Graduate School of Veterinary Science, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1193, Japan
Haruko SAKURADA
Towada Meat Inspection Center of Aomori Prefecture, 1-13 Nozaki, Sanbongi, Towada, Aomori 034-0001, Japan
Makiko YAMANAKA
Towada Meat Inspection Center of Aomori Prefecture, 1-13 Nozaki, Sanbongi, Towada, Aomori 034-0001, Japan
Kazuhisa NARA
Towada Meat Inspection Center of Aomori Prefecture, 1-13 Nozaki, Sanbongi, Towada, Aomori 034-0001, Japan
Shigeko TANAKA
Towada Meat Inspection Center of Aomori Prefecture, 1-13 Nozaki, Sanbongi, Towada, Aomori 034-0001, Japan
Masashi UEMA
Division of Biomedical Food Research, National Institute of Health Sciences, 3-25-26 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 210-9501, Japan
Yoshikazu ISHII
Department of Microbiology and Infectious Disease, Toho University School of Medicine, 5-21-16 Omori-nishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo, 143-8540, Japan
Yutaka TAMURA
Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Rakuno Gakuen University, 582 Midorimachi, Bunkyodai, Ebetsu, Hokkaido 162-8640, Japan
Tetsuo ASAI
Department of Applied Veterinary Science, the United Graduate School of Veterinary Science, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1193, Japan
Education and Research Center for Food Animal Health, Gifu University (GeFAH), 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1193, Japan

Keywords: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , pig, sequence type 398

JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2021 Volume 83 Issue 1 Pages 112-115

DOI https://doi.org/10.1292/jvms.20-0592

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Abstract

Monitoring the prevalence of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) in pigs could be useful for managing transmission risk to humans. To optimize sampling for LA-MRSA monitoring, we compared the sensitivity of MRSA isolation from skin swabs taken behind the ear and nasal swabs collected from 276 pigs and investigated the prevalence of MRSA in their carcasses. MRSA was isolated from 40 behind the ear skin swabs (14.5%), which was statistically higher than the number isolated from nasal swabs (23 samples, 8.3%). MRSA prevalence in the carcasses was 0.4%. All MRSA isolates were sequence type 398 lineage. Sampling of both the skin behind the ear and nasal mucosa in a pig is recommended to investigate the prevalence of LA-MRSA in pigs.

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