02597: Molecular Epidemiology of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius in the United States
Grant Status: Closed
Abstract
The bacterium Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is the most common cause of canine skin infections as well as other important canine diseases. Disfigurement caused by skin infections and treatment failures is an important problem. Resistance to antibiotics is becoming increasingly widespread with few or no antibiotic options left for some cases. Alternative therapeutic approaches being investigated include vaccines, small molecule virulence factor inhibitors and bacteriophage lytic enzymes. In order for new products to be effective against the broadest spectrum of wildtype bacterial strains as possible, it is important to determine which strains of S. pseudintermedius clinically predominate in the United States today. A genetic typing method for S. pseudintermedius was previously developed by the research team along with a survey of bacterial strains in the United States in which they sequenced the genomes of the most common strains. This analysis provided a snapshot of predominant strains and suggested a potential for emergence of new, highly antibiotic resistant organisms. Identifying the current strains in the U.S. and sequencing their genomes will provide a basis for developing the next generation of treatments as well as important information about changes that occur in the bacterial population in response to selective pressures.
Publication(s)
Phophi, Lufuno, Mohamed A. Abouelkhair, Rebekah Jones, Jordan Zehr, and Stephen A. Kania. “Temporal Changes in Antibiotic Resistance and Population Structure of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Pseudintermedius between 2010 and 2021 in the United States.” Comparative Immunology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases 100 (September 1, 2023): 102028. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cimid.2023.102028.
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