Presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in slaughterhouse environment, pigs, carcasses, and workers

Abstract

IntroductionMethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a highly resistant and difficult to cure zoonotic microorganism, which makes up a large part of food toxic infections and has shown high prevalence among pig population all over the world. The aim of the study was to establish the occurrence of MRSA in slaughterhouses, evaluate its antimicrobial resistance, and verify whether there are any differences or similarities with reference to other European countries.Material and MethodsA total of 100 pigs, 105 carcasses, 19 workers, and 24 samples from the environment of several slaughterhouses were examined by conventional microbial and molecular methods.ResultsIn total, 78 MRSA isolates were found. MRSA prevalence in slaughtered pigs varied from 8.0% to 88.6% depending on the slaughterhouse, reaching higher prevalence in slaughterhouses with higher slaughter capacity. In total, 21.1% of all workers were carriers of MRSA and 6.7% of carcasses were contaminated with MRSA. The 98.2% of MRSA isolates were resistant to penicillin, 89.1% to tetracycline, 60.1% to erythromycin, 65.5% to gentamycin, and 15 different spa types were found, among which spa type t01333 was most widespread.ConclusionThe study indicated that MRSA prevalence and spa types differed according to slaughterhouse slaughter capacity and good hygiene practices. Quite high MRSA occurrence among slaughterhouse workers is one of the main factors which increase pork contamination risk.

Microarray based genetic profiling of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from abattoir byproducts of pork origin

“…Parts with the highest prevalence were tongue (29%) and ear (24%), followed by rib bone (13%), sternum (9%), heart (7%) forefoot (2%) and liver (2%). The prevalence was lower than in other studies examining pork carcasses in Europe [15–17] or Asia [18]. S .…”

“…Similar prevalence was reported for porcine isolates from Denmark with CC398 (39%), CC30 (29%) and CC9 (27%) [21]. Strains belonging to CC9, CC30, CC49 and CC398 were found in slaughterhouses in Latvia [17] and in pigs and pig farmers in Switzerland [22]. CC1 has been associated with human infection [23] as well as pig farming [24].…”

Antimicrobial Resistance and Molecular Characterization of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Slaughtered Pigs and Pork in the Central Region of Thailand

“…The prevalence of MRSA in nasal swab samples observed in this study (11/204; 5.4%) was lower than that in European countries such as Latvia (17/100; 17%) [ 27 ] and other Asian countries such as China (38/590; 6.4%) [ 28 ]. We estimated the prevalence of MRSA isolated from pork as 44.8% (52/116), which is slightly lower than that in the earlier study in the central region of Thailand (50%;5/10) [ 26 ].…”

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

“…MRSA strains are resistant to all β-lactam antimicrobials by a penicillin-binding protein (PBP2a) that has a weak affinity to all β-lactams. The protein is encoded by the mecA gene, which resides on the lactams of a mobile genetic element called the staphylococcal chromosome cassette (SCCmec) (Ivbule et al, 2017). To classify the epidemiological characteristics of MRSA strains and, more importantly, to research the evolution and spread of disease clones, it is appropriate to employ relevant and reproducibility molecular methods with ample discriminative capacity to track changes in time.…”