| Summary: | China is one of the largest producers of pigs and pork in the world. However, large-scale studies on pig-associated <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> in relation to healthy pigs, diseased pigs and environment are scarce. The objective of the present study was to characterize and compare <i>S. aureus</i> isolates from healthy pigs, diseased pigs and environment through antimicrobial susceptibility testing, multiple locus sequence typing, <i>spa</i> typing, and antimicrobial resistance gene screening. Results showed all isolates were susceptible to linezolid and vancomycin. However, 66.7% (104/156) isolates were multidrug-resistant by displaying resistance to three or more antibiotics and high rates of resistance to penicillin, tetracycline, clindamycin, and clarithromycin were observed. Of the 20 multilocus sequence types (STs) identified among the isolates, ST9, ST188, and ST7 were most commonly isolated from healthy pigs and environment, while ST1 was most commonly isolated from diseased pigs. In total, 17 <i>spa</i> types were represented among the isolates, while t4792 was most commonly isolated from diseased pigs and t899, t189 were most commonly isolated from healthy pigs and environment. In conclusion, the genotypic and epidemiology characteristics observed among the isolates suggest pigs and pork could be important players in <i>S. aureus</i> dissemination.
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