Current status of the distribution and antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus felis isolates from feline patients in Japan

Abstract

We investigated the distribution and antimicrobial resistance of 120 Staphylococcus felis isolates from feline patients in Japan, mainly from the urinary tract (28.3%), abscesses (23.3%), ears (22.5%), and nasal cavity (10.8%). The distribution of S. felis differed from those of previous studies in Japan and other countries. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed a relatively high resistance to penicillin (PEN, 33.3%), followed by erythromycin (ERY, 15.8%), clindamycin (CLI, 13.3%), and levofloxacin (5.0%). However, oxacillin resistance was not detected. Notably, 11/120 (9.2%) S. felis isolates exhibited multidrug resistance, i.e., resistance to more than three classes of drugs, which mainly consisted of PEN-ERY-CLI resistance phenotypes. This is the first investigation on antimicrobial-resistant S. felis isolates from feline patients in Japan.