Identification of Multiresistance Gene cfr in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus from Pigs: Plasmid Location and Integration into a Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec Complex

The multi-resistance gene cfr was found in 8/231 porcine methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates. They were characterized by MLST, spa, dru and SCCmec typing as ST627-t002-dt12w-IVb, ST6-t304-dt12w-IVb, ST9-t899-dt12w-IVb, ST9-t899-dt12ae-IVb, or ST63-t899-dt12v-IVb. Different cfr gene regions were detected on plasmids of ca. 35 kb in seven isolates. For the first time, an ISEnfa4-cfr-IS256 fragment was found to be inserted upstream of the ccr genes in a chromosomal SCCmec IVb element of the remaining isolate.