Abstract
Staphylococcus argenteus is a novel Staphylococcus species closely related to Staphylococcus aureus that has been recently described. In this study, we investigated the proportion and the characteristics of S. argenteus recovered from humans in Belgium. S. aureus. human isolates collected in Belgium from 2006 to 2015 (n = 1,903) were retrospectively characterised via the presence of non-pigmented colonies on chocolate agar, spa typing and rpoB sequencing to determine if some of them were in fact S. argenteus. Out of 73 strains non-pigmented on chocolate plates, 3 isolates (0.16 %) showed rpoB sequences, in addition to spa and sequence types (ST2250/t5787, ST2250/t6675, ST3240/t6675), related to S. argenteus. Two of them were methicillin-resistant, harbouring a SCCmec type IV. The three S. argenteus isolates carried genes (sak, scn) of the immune evasion cluster. This first Belgian nationwide analysis showed a low occurrence of S. argenteus. Further studies should be conducted to identify the distribution range and the clinical impact of this new species.
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We thank our microbiologist colleagues for sending their staphylococci strains to the NRC.
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The rpoB sequences generated in this study were deposited in GenBank: accession numbers KU555518 to KU555590).
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This study was supported by internal funding.
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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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Argudín, M.A., Dodémont, M., Vandendriessche, S. et al. Low occurrence of the new species Staphylococcus argenteus in a Staphylococcus aureus collection of human isolates from Belgium. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 35, 1017–1022 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-016-2632-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-016-2632-x