Occurrence of highly fluoroquinolone-resistant and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in domestic animals.

We describe phenotypic and genotypic analyses carried out on multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from domestic animals. The sequence type ST239 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from dogs were highly resistant to fluoroquinolones, and new combinations of GyrA and GrlA mutations were identified. These findings are consistent with a role for animal carriage in the dissemination of important human pathogens in the community.