Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius on hand-contact and animal-contact surfaces in companion animal community hospitals.

Andrea V Perkins, Debra C Sellon, John M Gay, Eric T Lofgren, Dale A Moore, Lisa P Jones, Margaret A Davis

The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne 2020 Jun

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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) is an important companion animal pathogen, but few published studies have evaluated its epidemiology in primary care settings. This study determined MRSP prevalence on hand- and animal-contact surfaces in 11 small animal primary care hospitals in Washington and Idaho, USA. Overall, MRSP was isolated from at least 1 sample from 7 of 11 hospitals (64%) and from 36 of 374 total samples (10%) with no difference in prevalence between hand- and animal-contact surfaces (P = 0.51). Strain typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis indicated high within-hospital similarity of MRSP strains, but minimal similarity between strains from different hospitals. Indistinguishable MRSP strains were present on handand animal-contact surfaces within individual hospitals. A questionnaire was administered to a representative from each hospital. Respondents reported that animal-contact surfaces were cleaned and disinfected more frequently than hand-contact surfaces (P < 0.001). Improving hand hygiene and disinfection of hand-contact surfaces may decrease exposure of veterinary patients to MSRP. Copyright and/or publishing rights held by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.

Citation

Andrea V Perkins, Debra C Sellon, John M Gay, Eric T Lofgren, Dale A Moore, Lisa P Jones, Margaret A Davis. Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius on hand-contact and animal-contact surfaces in companion animal community hospitals. The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne. 2020 Jun;61(6):613-620