Prevalence and Characterization of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus from Meat Retail Shops and Meat Handlers in the Buea Municipality, Cameroon

Abstract

Aim: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a notorious multidrug-resistant biovar of S. aureus associated with infections that result in high morbidity and mortality in humans and animals. Its persistence in both host and non-host environments adds a major ecological dimension to the problem, thereby making it a one health challenge. This study determined the prevalence and antibiotic resistance patterns of MRSA from meat retail shops and meat handlers in the Buea municipality in addition to basic hygiene practices implemented in the meat retail shops.
 Study Design: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 260 samples (comprising 52 swabs each from weighing balances, butchering slabs, cutting knives, hands of meat handlers and meat samples) were randomly obtained and subjected to microbiological analysis. Data on sociodemographic characteristics of meat handlers and basic hygiene practices were captured in a questionnaire.
 Methodology: After enrichment, each sample was inoculated on mannitol salt agar and DNA extracted from presumptive S. aureus isolates for detection of the nuc gene. MRSA was identified by oxacillin disk diffusion and confirmed by amplification of the mecA gene. All MRSA isolates were challenged with 10 commonly used antibiotics using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method.
 Results: A total of 27 MRSA isolates were recovered from hand swabs (5.8%), meat (15.4%), knives swabs (21.2%) and butchering slabs (9.6%). All (100%) MRSA were resistant to ampicillin and cefepime followed by ofloxacin (92.6%), ciprofloxacin (81.5%) and vancomycin (37%). High susceptibility was observed for gentamicin (100%) and amikacin (100%). All isolates were multidrug-resistant and comprised 11 antibiotypes. Most meat handlers (71.2%) did not have basic meat safety training, while 90.4% of the meat retail shops did not have a nearby water source.
 Conclusion: Our results indicate that meat retail shops could be a potential reservoir of MRSA in the environment and meat handlers need more basic meat safety training.

A mapping review of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus proportions, genetic diversity, and antimicrobial resistance patterns in Cameroon

“…Resistance to cefoxitin was consistently observed in studies conducted in Yaounde [29,37] and the Adamawa and Far North regions [34], with a 100% resistance rate among MRSA isolates [29,34,37]. Similarly, a 100% resistance rate to cefepime was reported in Buea [21]. Resistance to ceftriaxone was also high, with a resistance rate of 90.5% in a study conducted in Buea, Yaounde, and Limbe [39].…”

“…Finally, 24 studies were included in our review and met the criteria for MRSA proportions, genetic diversity, and antimicrobial resistance patterns in Cameroon [13,. Among the included studies, there were 22 studies on human MRSA epidemiology [13,[20][21][22][23][24][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41], one study on animal epidemiology [25], two studies on food epidemiology [19,21], one study on environmental epidemiology [38].…”

“…Of the 24 studies included, 8 were conducted in the Central Region (33.3%) [13,22,24,27,37], and Five in the Western Region (20.8%) [30,32,35,36]. The Littoral (8.3%) [20,41] and South West (8.3%) regions [21,38] were studied twice each, while one study covered the Centre, Littoral, and South West regions (4.1%) [26]. In addition, one study included the Central and Southwest regions (4.1%) [39], and another focused on the Northwest and Southwest regions (4.1%) [19].…”

“…The prevalence of MRSA in humans across 19 studies demonstrated its variability within different populations, settings, and periods [13, 20-24, 26-28, 30-39] (Fig 2 and S6 Table ). Only one community-based study in Buea found a 5.7% prevalence of MRSA in asymptomatic patients [21]. Almost all reports were hospital-based studies indicating a prevalence ranging from 1.9% among HIV/AIDS patients to 46.8% among patient with various diseases [28,39].…”

“…For gentamicin, resistance rates ranged from 22.2% in Dschang [31] to 55.4% in an unspecified location [34]. Resistance to amikacin was relatively low, with no resistance observed in Douala and Buea, and a 42.9% resistance rate in Yaounde [20,21,31,34,37]. Other aminoglycosides, such as kanamycin and tobramycin, showed higher resistance rates of 69.7% and 72.5%, respectively, in Yaounde [29].…”