Abstract
BackgroundInfections in communities and hospitals are mostly caused by Staphylococcus aureus strains. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of five genes (SEA, SEB, SEC, SED and SEE) encoding staphylococcal enterotoxins in S. aureus isolates from various clinical specimens, as well as to assess the relationship of these isolates with antibiotic susceptibility. Traditional PCR was used to detect enterotoxin genes, and the ability of isolates expressing these genes was determined using Q.RT-PCR.ResultsOverall; 61.3% (n = 46) of the samples were positive for S. aureus out of 75 clinical specimens, including urine, abscess, wounds, and nasal swabs. The prevalence of antibiotic resistance showed S. aureus isolates were resistant to Nalidixic acid, Ampicillin and Amoxicillin (100%), Cefuroxime (94%), Ceftriaxone (89%), Ciprofloxacin (87%), Erythromycin and Ceftaxime (85%), Cephalexin and Clarithromycin (83%), Cefaclor (81%), Gentamicin (74%), Ofloxacin (72%), Chloramphenicol(59%), Amoxicillin/Clavulanic acid (54%), while all isolates sensitive to Imipinem (100%). By employing specific PCR, about 39.1% of isolates were harbored enterotoxin genes, enterotoxin A was the most predominant toxin in 32.6% of isolates, enterotoxin B with 4.3% of isolates and enterotoxin A and B were detected jointly in 2.1% of isolates, while enterotoxin C, D and E weren’t detected in any isolate.ConclusionThis study revealed a high prevalence of S. aureus among clinical specimens. The isolates were also multidrug resistant to several tested antibiotics. Enterotoxin A was the most prevalent gene among isolates. The presence of antibiotic resistance and enterotoxin genes may facilitate the spread of S. aureus strains and pose a potential threat to public health.
Highlights
Infections in communities and hospitals are mostly caused by Staphylococcus aureus strains
The current results were explained, all S. aureus isolates were resistant to ampicillin, amoxicillin, and nalidixic acid, these findings are consistent with those published in other studies [41, 42]; this suggests that these antibiotics are no longer successful against infections caused by S. aureus
The correlation between enterotoxin and resistance to antibiotics is unknown, but the current study demonstrated a strong connection between the determined toxin pattern distribution and antibiotic resistance and that was statically significant with (P value = 0.01 and > 0.05) for Staphy‐ lococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) and Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) genes respectively, and this was consistent with prior investigations where more association between level of enterotoxins and resistance to antibiotics [46, 68, 69], some studies suggested a negative correlation between antibiotic resistance and enterotoxin investigation [70, 71]
Summary
Infections in communities and hospitals are mostly caused by Staphylococcus aureus strains. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of five genes (SEA, SEB, SEC, SED and SEE) encoding staphylococcal enterotoxins in S. aureus isolates from various clinical specimens, as well as to assess the relationship of these isolates with antibiotic susceptibility. Staphylococcus aureus is a commensal and opportunistic human pathogen that can be found all over the world [1] It causes a variety of clinical infections, including impetigo, furunculosis, and abscesses on the skin and soft tissues, as well as systemic infections, including pneumonia, Baz et al Egypt J Med Hum Genet (2021) 22:84 associated virulence factors with these microorganisms [6]. The aim of this research is to use PCR to detect enterotoxins genes in S. aureus, assess their distribution through clinical sources, and quantify their prevalence. We looked for any possible connection between enterotoxin prevalence and expression on the one side and antimicrobial susceptibility on the other
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