Frequency of beta toxin and phage Sa3 genes of Staphylococcus aureus in multiple sclerosis patients and healthy nasal carriers

Abstract

The incidence of Staphylococcus aureus infection is alarming as a significant public health problem. This bacterium contributes to the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) disorder in young and adult individuals. This research aimed to determine the frequency of hlb, int of phi3, and mecA genes in S. aureus isolates collected from MS-patients and healthy nasal carriers. Four hundred nasal swabs were collected from MS patients (140) and healthy nasal carriers (260). The isolates were identified by phenotypic tests including catalase, coagulase, growth on mannitol salt agar, and DNase activity. Antibiotic susceptibility was conducted by disk diffusion agar method. Besides, PCR was done to the detection of hlb, int of phi3, nuc, and mecA genes. One hundred thirty isolates were identified as S. aureus from MS patients (65 isolates) and healthy nasal carriers (65 isolates). The highest resistance rate was to erythromycin in MS patients (47.7%) and healthy nasal carriers (55.4%) isolates. All isolates of healthy nasal carriers and 64 (98.5%) isolates of MS patients were susceptible to linezolid. The percentage of isolates containing the hlb, int of phi3, and mecA in MS patients was 15%, 40%, 17% and in healthy nasal carriers 9.2%, 18.5%, 21.5%, respectively. The frequency rate of hlb, int of phi3 genes in MS-patients isolates is remarkably high in comparison to healthy nasal carrier's isolates. These findings imply that S. aureus has the potency to the development and exacerbation of MS.