Vela, Ana IsabelVillalón, PilarSaez-Nieto, Juan AntonioChacón, GemaDomínguez, LucasFernández-Garayzábal, José Francisco2025-01-102025-01-102017-12Vela AI, Villalón P, Sáez-Nieto JA, Chacón G, Domínguez L, Fernández-Garayzábal JF. Characterization of Streptococcus pyogenes from Animal Clinical Specimens, Spain. Emerg Infect Dis. 2017 Dec;23(12):2013-2016.1080-6040https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/25977Streptococcus pyogenes appears to be almost exclusively restricted to humans, with few reports on isolation from animals. We provide a detailed characterization (emm typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis [PFGE], and multilocus sequence typing [MLST]) of 15 S. pyogenes isolates from animals associated with different clinical backgrounds. We also investigated erythromycin resistance mechanisms and phenotypes and virulence genes. We observed 2 emm types: emm12 (11 isolates) and emm77 (4 isolates). Similarly, we observed 2 genetic linages, sequence type (ST) 26 and ST63. Most isolates exhibited the M macrolide resistance phenotype and the mefA/ermB genotype. Isolates were grouped into 2 clones on the basis of emm-MLST-PFGE-virulence gene profile combinations: clone 1, characterized by the combined genotype emm12-ST36-pulsotype A-speG; and clone 2, characterized by the genotype emm77-ST63-pulsotype B-speC. Our results do not show conclusively that animals may represent a new reservoir of S. pyogenes but indicate the ability of human-derived S. pyogenes isolates to colonize and infect animals.engVoRhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/SpainStreptococcus pyogenesAnimalsAntimicrobial resistanceBacteriaCharacterizationDetectionErythromycinGenesGroup A StreptococcusStreptococciVirulenceAnimalsAnti-Bacterial AgentsAntigens, BacterialBacterial Outer Membrane ProteinsBacterial ProteinsCarrier ProteinsClone CellsDrug Resistance, BacterialElectrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-FieldFarmsGene ExpressionGenotypeMacrolidesMembrane ProteinsMicrobial Sensitivity TestsMultilocus Sequence TypingPhenotypeRabbitsSheepSheep DiseasesSpainStreptococcal InfectionsStreptococcus pyogenesCharacterization of Streptococcus pyogenes from Animal Clinical Specimens, SpainAttribution 4.0 International2914837923122013-201610.3201/eid2312.1511461080-6059Emerging infectious diseasesopen access