Skin lesion by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398-t1451 in a Spanish pig farmer: possible transmission from animals to humans.

Skin lesions by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) of the lineage ST398-t1451 were detected in a pig-farmer in Spain in 2010. Similar MRSA ST398-t1451 strains were also detected in nasal samples from the patient, his brother, and nine pigs from his farm. All human and animal strains were ascribed to the SCCmec type V and the agr type I, showed tetracycline-erythromycin-clindamycin resistances, and harbored the tetK, tetM, and ermC resistance genes. They were negative for all tested toxin genes (lukS/lukF, tst, eta, etb, and etd). All human and animal strains showed closely related pulsed-field gel electrophoresis-ApaI patterns. Possible MRSA transmission from animals to humans is suggested.