The aim of the study was to analyze the presence of coagulase-positive Staphylococcus in swabs collected from red foxes and to characterize the drug resistance and virulence of these bacteria. In total, 415 rectal and oral swabs were collected, and coagulase-positive strains of S. pseudintermedius (n = 104) and S. aureus (n = 27) were identified using multiplex-PCR and MALDI TOF MS. Subsequent analyses showed the highest phenotypic resistance of the strains to penicillin (16.8%) and tetracycline (30.5%) confirmed by the presence of the blaZ, tetM, and tetK genes. Slightly lower resistance to erythromycin (6.9%), clindamycin (9.2%), gentamicin, streptogramins, rifampicin, nitrofurantoin, and sulphamethoxazol/trimetophrim was exhibited by single strains.
Several virulence genes in a few different combinations were detected in S. aureus; LukE-LukD, and seB were the most frequent genes (37%), LukE-LukD, seB, and seC were detected in 11% of the strains, and PVL, etA, etB, and tst genes were present in two or single strains.
The results of our research have confirmed that the red fox is an underestimated reservoir of coagulase-positive Staphylococcus strains, with approximately 50% of carriers of at least one resistance gene. In turn, 88.8% of the S. aureus strains had one or more virulence genes; therefore, this species of wildlife animals should be monitored as part of epidemiological surveillance.