First Report of Antibiotic-Resistant Coagulase-Negative Staphylococcus Strains Isolated from Technical Snow on Ski Slopes in Mountain Areas

Coagulase-negative staphylococci form a heterogeneous group defined solely by the lack of coagulase. Initially considered non-pathogenic, they are now known to be opportunistic pathogens of increasing importance. This study was conducted to examine the prevalence of Staphylococcus spp., their taxonomic diversity, antibiotic resistance patterns and genetic determinants of antibiotic resistance in the water resources used within the technical snow production process. The types of samples included (1) river water at intakes where water is drawn for snowmaking, (2) water stored in technical reservoirs, from which it is pumped into the snowmaking systems, (3) and technical snowmelt water. The study was conducted in the catchments of five rivers: Białka, Biały Dunajec, Raba and Wisła in Poland, and Studený Potok in Slovakia. Staphylococcus spp. was detected in all types of samples: in 17% of river water, 25% of reservoir-stored water and in 60% of technical snowmelt water. All staphylococci were coagulase-negative (CoNS) and belonged to 10 species, with S. epidermidis being the most prevalent in river water, S. warneri and S. pasteuri in reservoir-stored water and S. haemolyticus in snowmelt water. The highest resistance rates to erythromycin and macrolide/lincosamid/streptogramin b (MLSb) types of resistance were detected in all types of samples, accompanied by the erythromycin efflux pump-determining msrA gene as the most frequent genetic determinant of antibiotic resistance. This study is the first report of the presence of antibiotic-resistant, including multidrug-resistant, CoNS carrying more than one gene determining antibiotic resistance in technical snow in the mountain areas of the Central European countries.