Phenotypic and genotypic relationship between Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from human and bovine milk

Abstract

The current work aimed to track the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in human and bovine milk in Fayoum city, Egypt. 74% of isolates obtained from a human with septic sore throat and 40% of bovine isolates from bulk milk tank were found positive for S. aureus. The typical characteristics of MRSA including resistance to oxacillin and meca positivity were detected in 8% and 7% of the human and bovineisolates respectively. The antibiotic resistance profile of human and bovine MRSA isolates have shown a high degree of similarity with complete resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics associated with variable resistance to other antibiotic classes. Nevertheless, 99-100% identity has been detected between meca gene of the human and bovine isolates and multiple MRSA strains in Genebank. The identified phenotypic and genotypic similarity provides clear evidence of potential epidemiological relation between the human and bovine MRSA isolates. However, further study is required to identify the mode of transmission of MRSA isolates between human and different livestock animals on wide-scale and expand the study to include wild animals.