Treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection following tibial plateau leveling osteotomy in a dog.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, surgical site infections caused by drug-resistant pathogens have emerged as a cause of concern in small animal practice. In this report, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections associated with tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) is reported. However, there have been no reports on the treatment of MRSA infection following TPLO in dogs. This case report describes the use of a combination of vancomycin and rifampicin to treat MRSA infection following TPLO in a dog. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 7-year-old spayed female American cocker spaniel was referred for right hind limb lameness that did not improve with conservative treatment. The dog was diagnosed with cranial cruciate ligament rupture, for which TPLO was performed. Once the surgical wound was closed, the dog licked the skin on the surgical site, causing the injury to dehisce. MRSA was detected from the purulent discharge, and chloramphenicol was then administered based on the drug sensitivity test results. Because of the continued drainage, the implants were removed after the bone union of the osteotomy site was observed. Since this did not provide any relief to the existing condition, the antibiotic was changed to vancomycin at 132 days after TPLO surgery, and the infected location was cleaned many times through a drain tube placed into the tibia. However, the infection could not be controlled. Thus, a rifampicin and vancomycin combination was started. As a result, the purulent discharge disappeared and the fistula entirely closed on the 154th day after TPLO surgery. CONCLUSION: A combination of rifampicin and vancomycin may be effective for treating MRSA infection at the surgical site following TPLO surgery that does not heal despite implant removal and administration of vancomycin.

Genotyping DNA isolated from UV irradiated human bloodstains using whole genome amplification.

Analysis of DNA polymorphisms are the primary technique used for personal identification in forensic cases. However, DNA samples collected as evidence from crime scenes are usually degraded by environmental, physical, and chemical factors, which may interfere with the PCR analysis and, consequently, personal identification. Whole genome amplification (WGA) is a useful method to amplify genomic DNA from samples containing low quantity and poor quality of DNA, and it approach that shows promise to overcome the limited small fragments based upon random fragmentation by universal priming sites. In this study, we describe the use of WGA to genotype 15 short tandem repeat (STR) loci from dried blood samples irradiated with different types of ultraviolet (UV) light (UVA, UVB, and UVC). The result showed that UVC was the most damaging to DNA, followed by UVB and UVA. Samples exposed to UVA could be genotyped for all STR loci with or without WGA. For UVB and UVC irradiated blood samples, a greater number of STR loci could be genotyped after WGA. Although it hard to amplified a few higher molecular weight alleles, overall, the WGA method was useful in genotyping template DNA of poor quality but low quantity.