INCIDENCE OF MRSA ISOLATED FROM RETAIL MEAT AND MEAT HANDLERS IN TANTA CITY

Abstract

Sixty meat product samples represented by minced meat, burger, and sausage (20 of each) and 60 of their corresponding personnel hand swabs randomly collected from different supermarkets and retailers of different sanitation levels, in Tanta city, El Gharbia Province, Egypt and were bacteriologically analyzed to assess the prevalence of S. aureus and the resistant type (MRSA).The obtained results revealed that S. aureus could be isolated and identified from 60%,20% and 100 % and 40%, 40% and 100% of the examined minced meat, burger, and sausage and there swabs respectively. Meanwhile the percentages for the MRSA type in the same examined meat product samples were 40%, 40%, 60% and 40%, 5% and15% respectively using the antibiogram testing method. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for detection of the mecA gene that was detected in all isolated strains showed either complete or intermediate resistance in antibiotic sensitivity test.The critical question is whether the roles in some countries are enough to eliminate or reduce the global reservoirs of resistant pathogens and resistance genes. This may require more fundamental shifts in the way animals are raised to decrease disease susceptibility, so as to lower the use of antibiotics for all purposes in animal agriculture