Isolation of Methicillin Resistant (MR) Staphylococci from Chicken Meat Samples

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the presence of methicillin resistant staphylococci (MRS) in retail raw chicken meat samples sold in Hatay. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was tested for 13 different antimicrobials by disc diffusion method and investigated for resistance genes encoding methicillin (mecA), tetracycline (tetM, tetK), penicillin (blaZ), macrolide (ermA, ermC), lincosamide (lnuA) and aminoglycoside [aac(6′)/aph(2′′), aph(3′)‐IIIa, ant(4′)‐Ia] resistance via the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In addition, the presence of staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) genes was also searched by PCR. Out of 50 collected chicken meat samples, 11 (22%) MRS was isolated and the following species were determined: S. sciuri (72.7%, 8/11) and S. epidermidis (27.3%, 3/11). While all isolates were resistant to oxacillin, penicillin and ampicillin, various rates of resistance were observed for tetracycline (8, 72.7%), clindamycin (3, 27.3%), trimethoprim‐sulfamethoxazole (2, 18.2%), erythromycin (2, 18.2%) and rifampicin (1, 9.1%). All MRS harbored mecA gene together with blaZ. The tetM gene responsible for ribosomal protection was detected in all phenotypically tetracycline resistant isolates. ermC gene in erythromycin resistant isolates and lnuA gene in clindamycin resistant isolates were detected. None of the isolates was found to be positive for SE genes. The results of this study indicated that contamination of retail raw chicken meat samples with MRS poses a risk to public health due to transmission of these bacteria to humans. Additionally, this study also highlights the importance of monitoring antimicrobial resistant bacteria in animal originated foods.