Epidemiology and molecular characterization of Staphylococcus aureus causing bovine mastitis in water buffaloes from the Hazara division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

PLoS One. 2022 May 5;17(5):e0268152. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268152. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Buffalo represent a major source of milk in Pakistan. However, production is impacted by the disease bovine mastitis. Mastitis causes significant economic losses, with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) being one of its major causative agents. While much work has been done understanding the epidemiology of bovine mastitis in Pakistan, detailed molecular characterization of the associated S. aureus is unavailable. In the current study both the epidemiological and molecular characterization of S. aureus from bovine mastitis in the Hazara division of Pakistan are examined. S. aureus was isolated from 18.41% of the animals, and left quarters more prone to infection (69.6%) than right quarters (30.4%). Sub-clinical mastitis (75.31%) was more prevalent than clinical mastitis (24.69%), with infections evenly distributed amongst the eight districts. Molecular characterization revealed that only 19.6% of the isolates were methicillin-resistant, and four strains types identified, including ST9-t7867-MSSA, ST9-MSSA, ST101-t2078-MSSA, and ST22-t8934-MRSA-IVa. Antiseptic resistance genes were not detected in the isolates, and low levels of antibiotic resistance were also noted, however the methicillin-resistant strains had higher overall antibiotic resistance. This study represents the most complete molecular typing data for S. aureus causing bovine mastitis in the Hazara district of Pakistan, and the country as a whole.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Buffaloes / genetics
  • Cattle
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Mastitis, Bovine* / epidemiology
  • Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus*
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Multilocus Sequence Typing
  • Pakistan / epidemiology
  • Staphylococcal Infections* / epidemiology
  • Staphylococcal Infections* / veterinary
  • Staphylococcus aureus / genetics

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents

Grants and funding

KZ: This work was supported in part by the operating fund from the Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance (CAR), Alberta Health Services, Alberta, Canada. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.