Occurrence of Methicillin Resistant and Enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus in Traditional Cheeses in the North West of Iran

Abstract

Traditional dairy products are potential sources of a variety of microorganisms which participate in food poisoning. Staphylococcus aureus is a conspicuous example of toxigenic bacteria causative for food-borne diseases. Moreover, resistance to methicillin is a prominent index in food hygiene studies. In the present study, we have aimed at characterization and identification of enterotoxigenic methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolated from traditional cheeses in Azerbaijan region in the northwest of Iran during 2012. A number of phenotypical and molecular assays were utilized for screening of S. aureus. Subsequently, the prevalence of the genes responsible for the five staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEA-SEE) and also methicillin resistance gene was assessed. The outcomes of phenotypical methods were in conformity with those of the molecular procedures. The results indicated that 16% of cheese samples were contaminated by S. aureus. 110 isolates were authenticated by both phenotypical and molecular methods. All of the mentioned isolates were positive for coa, nuc, and 16S rDNA primers. 21% of these isolates were mecA positive and 60.8% of these MRSA were positive for SEs. Regarding the frequent outbreaks of enterotoxigenic MRSA, new hygiene policies and management practices should be considered to increase food safety and avoid extra treatment costs.

Prevalence and characterization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carrying mecA or mecC and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus in dairy sheep farms in central Italy

“…Although S. aureus is frequently isolated from sheep raw milk and dairy products (Morandi et al, 2009;Spanu et al, 2014;Carfora et al, 2015;Jamali et al, 2015), the detection of MRSA in ovine milk (Ariza-Miguel et al, 2014;Caruso et al, 2015;Pexara et al, 2015;Carfora et al, 2016) and derived dairy products (Normanno et al, 2007;Shanehbandi et al, 2014;Carfora et al, 2015) is sporadic.…”

Enterotoxin genes, enterotoxin production, and methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from milk and dairy products in Central Italy

“…At a global level, only a few data are available on the presence of MRSA in dairy products. To our knowledge, they have been isolated from ovine pecorino cheese and bovine mozzarella in Italy (Normanno et al 2007), from traditional cheese samples produced from goat or sheep's fatty milk in Iran (Shanehbandi, Baradaran, Sadigh-Eteghad, & Zarredar, 2014) and from ice cream in Turkey (Gucukoglu, Cadirci, Terzi, Kevenk, & Alisarli, 2013). In all the above mentioned studies, the genotypic characterisation of the strains was not performed.…”

Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus from Milk and Dairy Products Sold in Some Local Markets of Mymensingh District of Bangladesh

“…Staphylococcus aureus is an important foodborne pathogen, found in a good extent in milk as it is a nutrient enriched medium for their rapid growth and because of that milk and dairy products get frequently contaminated by this pathogen. Several researchers have reported the high prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in the raw milk sample even in pasteurized milk as they can produce heat-stable enterotoxin [7][8][9]. However, in Bangladesh, the overall sanitary maintenances of the production, processing, packaging and distribution of milk and hygiene policies have unfortunately been reported not to be within the required standard [10,11].…”