Topical antibiotic use coselects for the carriage of mobile genetic elements conferring resistance to unrelated antimicrobials in staphylococcus aureus

GP Carter; MB Schultz; SL Baines; AG da Silva; H Heffernan; A Tiong; PH Pham; IR Monk; TP Stinear; BP Howden; DA Williamsona

Journal article

Topical antibiotic use coselects for the carriage of mobile genetic elements conferring resistance to unrelated antimicrobials in staphylococcus aureus

GP Carter, MB Schultz, SL Baines, AG da Silva, H Heffernan, A Tiong, PH Pham, IR Monk, TP Stinear, BP Howden, DA Williamsona

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy | AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1128/AAC.02000-17

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Abstract

Topical antibiotics, such as mupirocin and fusidic acid, are commonly used in the prevention and treatment of skin infections, particularly those caused by staphylococci. However, the widespread use of these agents is associated with increased resistance to these agents, potentially limiting their efficacy. Of particular concern is the observation that resistance to topical antibiotics is often associated with multidrug resistance, suggesting that topical antibiotics may play a role in the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. New Zealand (NZ) has some of the highest globally recorded rates of topical antibiotic usage and resistance. Using a combination of Pacific Biosciences singl..

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Funding Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a Marsden grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand. The National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia, funded Practitioner Fellowship GNT1105905 to B.P.H. and Early Career Fellowship GNT1123854 to D.A.W. The Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory is funded by the Victorian Government. Doherty Applied Microbial Genomics is funded by the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at The University of Melbourne.