Molecular epidemiology, genetic diversity and antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from chicken and pig carcasses, and carcass handlers

Abstract

The epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus in food animals, associated products, and their zoonotic potential in Nigeria are poorly understood. This study aimed to provide data on the prevalence, genetic characteristics and antimicrobial resistance of S. aureus isolated from chicken and pig carcasses, and persons in contact with the carcasses at slaughterhouses in Nigeria. Surface swabs were collected randomly from 600 chicken and 600 pig carcasses. Nasal swabs were collected from 45 workers in chicken slaughterhouses and 45 pig slaughterhouse workers. S. aureus isolates were analyzed by spa typing. They were also examined for presence of the Panton-Valentine Leucocidin (PVL) and mecA genes, as well as for antimicrobial resistance phenotype. Overall, 53 S. aureus isolates were recovered (28 from chicken carcasses, 17 from pig carcasses, 5 from chicken carcass handlers and 3 from pig carcass handlers). Among the isolates, 19 (35.8%) were PVL-positive and 12 (22.6%) carried the mecA gene. The 53 isolates belonged to 19 spa types. The Based Upon Repeat Pattern (BURP) algorithm separated the isolates into 2 spa-clonal complexes (spa-CC) and 9 singletons including 2 novel spa types (t18345 and t18346). The clonal complexes (CC) detected were CC1, CC5, CC8, CC15, CC88 and CC152. CC15-related isolates represented by spa type t084 (32.1%) and CC5 represented by spa type t311 (35.3%) predominated among isolates from chicken carcasses/ handlers, and pig carcasses/ handlers, respectively. Multidrug resistance exhibited by all the CC except CC8, was observed among isolates from chicken carcasses (64.3%), pig carcasses (41.2%), handlers of chicken meat (40.0%) and handlers of pork (33.3%). All the CC showed varying degrees of resistance to tetracycline while CC15 and CC5 exhibited the highest resistance to sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim and erythromycin, respectively. The predominant antimicrobial resistance

Clonal diversity and spatial dissemination of multi-antibiotics resistant Staphylococcus aureus pathotypes in Southwest Nigeria

“…Similar high level tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole resistance were already recorded in African S . aureus and animals strains [ 31 , 32 ].…”

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Slaughter Houses and Meat Shops in Capital Territory of Pakistan During 2018–2019

“…Fifty mecA positive samples out of one hundred eighteen were selected for spa and coa genes typing. The spa gene coding for the outer coat protein known as Protein A which is conserved between S. aureus strains ( Okorie-Kanu et al, 2020 ). This gene provides sufficient short sequence repeat region (known as the X-region) containing variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs) that are genetically heterogeneous and are used as a single-locus sequence typing target (SLST), commonly known as spa typing ( Koreen et al, 2004 ).…”

Prevalence and Characterization of Coagulase Positive Staphylococci from Food Products and Human Specimens in Egypt

“…In fact, certain bacterial strains of the genus Staphylococcus that have developed resistance to various antibiotics carry the mecA gene that encodes penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a) and facilitate resistance to methicillin and other β-lactam antibiotics, rendering them a global public health issue [ 14 ]. Molecular identification using PCR is the gold standard approach for identifying the mecA gene between MRSA strains [ 15 ]. However, a special mecA homolog gene was detected in some S. aureus strains, primarily the mecALGA251 ( mecC ), and this divergent mecA gene counterpart with 70% homology to the mecA gene has been designated as mecC [ 16 ].…”