Methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci from healthy dogs in Nsukka, Nigeria

The occurrence, resistance phenotype and molecular mechanisms of resistance of methicillin-resistant staphylococci from groin swabs of 109 clinically healthy dogs in Nsukka, Nigeria were in-vestigated. The groin swab samples were cultured on mannitol salt agar supplemented with 10 g of cloxacillin. Sixteen methicillin-resistant coagulase negative staphylococci (MRCoNS), all harbour-ing the mecA gene were isolated from 14 (12.8%) of the 109 dogs studied. The MRCoNS isolated were: S. sciuri subspecies rodentium, S. lentus, S. haemolyticus, and S. simulans with S. sciuri sub-species rodentium (62.5%) being the predominant species. Thirteen (81.3%) of the MRCoNS were resistant to tetracycline while 12 (75%) and 10 (62.5%) were resistant to kanamycin and trimtho-prim-sulphamethoxazole respectively. None of the isolates was resistant to fusidic acid, linezolid and vancomycin. Thirteen (81.3%) of the MRCoNS were multi-drug resistance (MDR). Other anti-microbial genes detected were: blaZ, tet(K), tet(M), tet(L), erm(B), lnu(A), aacA-aphD, aphA3, str, dfr(G), catpC221,and catpC223. Methicillin-resistant staphylococci are common colonizers of healthy dogs in Nigeria with a major species detected being S. sciuri subsp. rodentium. Key words: methicillin-resistant, S. sciuri, resistant genes, dogs