Speaker
Description
Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) producing Staphylococcus (S.) aureus can cause recurrent, large skin abscesses, which can lead to severe human infections and stigmatization. Although food is not considered a relevant source for human S. aureus colonization, the potentially grave consequences of infection with PVL-positive S. aureus require monitoring of food for this kind of bacteria.
Since 2014, the German NRL for Coagulase-positive Staphylococci incl. S. aureus has screened S. aureus isolates in routinely submitted and research samples for the occurrence of the lukS-PV gene as PVL marker. All lukS-PV-positive isolates were further typed, characterized and sequenced allowing to decipher phylogenetic relationships.
In total, 31 S. aureus strains have been identified as lukS-PV-positive (30/4144 investigated Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains and 1/681 investigated Methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) strains). More than half of the strains originated from studies that targeted imported food products and insects intended for food production purposes.
Our results indicate that PVL-positive MSSA/MRSA strains occur relatively often in imported fish, seafood and beef in contrast to food / food-producing animals from Germany and could cause a public health threat as clonal lineages differ considerably from common livestock-associated MRSA strains in Germany.
Keywords
MRSA, food, Panton-Valentine leukocidin, virulence
| Registration-ID code | ZOO23-501 |
|---|---|
| Professional Status of the Speaker | Senior Scientist |
| Junior Scientist Status | No, I am not a Junior Scientist. |
Primary authors
External references
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