Staphylococcus aureus have been progressively identified in farm animals and in humans with direct contact with these animals showing that S. aureus may be a major zoonotic pathogen. Therefore, we aimed to isolate S. aureus from cows, their handlers, and their immediate surroundings, and to investigate the antimicrobial resistance and genetic lineages of the isolates. Mouth and nose swabs of 244 healthy cows (195 Maronesa, 11 Holstein-Friesians, and 28 crossbreeds), 82 farm workers, 53 water and 63 soil samples were collected. Identification of species was carried out by MALDI-TOF MS Biotyper. The presence of antimicrobial resistance genes and virulence factors was assessed based on gene search by PCR. All isolates were typed by multilocus sequence typing and spa-typing. From 442 samples, 33 (13.9%), 24 (29.3%), 1 (2%), and 1 (2%) S. aureus were recovered from cows, farm workers, water, and soil samples, respectively. Most of the isolates showed resistance only to penicillin. S. aureus isolates were ascribed to 17 sequence types (STs) and 26 spa-types. Some clonal lineages were common to both cows and farm workers such as ST30-t9413, ST72-t148, and ST45-t350. Through a One Health approach, this study revealed that there is a great diversity of clonal lineages of S. aureus in cows and their handlers. Furthermore, some S. aureus lineages are common to cows and handlers, which may suggest a possible transmission.
Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus; cattle; cows; transmission.