Suscetibilidade antimicrobiana de Staphylococcus spp. isolados de cães com pioderma superficial

Abstract

Superficial pyoderma is the bacterial infection of the epidermis and hair follicle and is a common skin disease in dogs. The main etiological agents involved are bacteria of the Staphylococcus genus. This skin disease represents one of the main indications for antimicrobial therapy by small animal practitioners, a procedure usually performed empirically. The emergence of multidrug-resistant staphylococci species in skin infections has been reported in many countries and implies difficulties in the treatment. This study aimed to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility and evaluate the presence of multidrug resistance in 154 isolates of Staphylococcus spp. from skin lesions of dogs with superficial pyoderma that were assisted by the Veterinary Dermatology Service at the Hospital Veterinário Universitário (HVU) of the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM). After bacterial culture and identification, the isolates were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility, and the results showed high rates of resistance to amoxicillin (60.4%) and penicillin G (60.4%), moderate resistance to potentiated sulfonamides (29.9%), enrofloxacin (20.1%), ciprofloxacin (18.8%) and azithromycin (17.5%), and low percentages of resistance to the amoxicillin and clavulanic acid association (1.9%), cephalexin (1.9 %), cefadroxil (1.9%) and vancomycin (0.6%). The multidrug resistance was detected in 23.4% (11/154) and the methicillin resistance in 5.8% (9/154) of the samples. It may be concluded that the Staphylococcus spp. isolates present high susceptibility to key antimicrobials used in the treatment of superficial pyodermas in dogs at the HVU-UFSM, such as cephalexin and the amoxicillin and clavulanic acid association, confirming the preference for these drugs when treating dogs with this disorder. The susceptibility of the isolates to fluoroquinolones, also recommended in the literature as an alternative in the treatment of pyodermas, allows suggesting that such drugs should not be considered in the empirical selection. The identification of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus spp. in the studied canine population justifies periodic and regional bacteriological tests of skin lesions in dogs with superficial pyoderma, to minimize bacterial resistance, possible therapeutic failures and also motivates wise use of antimicrobial therapy.