Characterization of Streptococcus pyogenes from Animal Clinical Specimens, Spain
Investigation published in Emerging Infectious Diseases
December 1st, 2017
Streptococcus pyogenes appears to be almost exclusively restricted to humans, with few reports on isolation from animals. We provide a detailed characterization (emm typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis [PFGE], and multilocus sequence typing [MLST]) of 15 S. pyogenes isolates from animals associated with different clinical backgrounds. We also investigated erythromycin resistance mechanisms and phenotypes and virulence genes. We observed 2 emm types: emm12 (11 isolates) and emm77 (4 isolates). Similarly, we observed 2 genetic linages, sequence type (ST) 26 and ST63. Most isolates exhibited the M macrolide resistance phenotype and the mefA/ermB genotype. Isolates were grouped into 2 clones on the basis of emm-MLST-PFGE-virulence gene profile combinations: clone 1, characterized by the combined genotype emm12-ST36-pulsotype A-speG; and clone 2, characterized by the genotype emm77-ST63-pulsotype B-speC. Our results do not show conclusively that animals may represent a new reservoir of S. pyogenes but indicate the ability of human-derived S. pyogenes isolates to colonize and infect animals
Vela AI., Villalon P., Saez-Nieto JA., Chacon G., Dominguez L. and Fernandez-Garayzabal JF..
 | Servicio de Identificación y Caracterización Microbiana (ICM). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM). |
 | Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII). |
 | Laboratorio Exopol. |
