Prevalence of Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Meals Served at Hospitals

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Food Hygiene Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Kalyobiya, 13637, Egypt.

2 1Food Hygiene Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Kalyobiya, 13637, Egypt

3 Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), Shibin El Kom branch, Agriculture Research Centre (ARC), Egypt

4 Professor of food hygiene, Fac. Vet. Med., Zagazig Univ., Egypt

10.21608/ejvs.2024.282625.2001

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is one of the major causes of foodborne intoxication worldwide. Meals introduced to patients at hospitals are mandatory to be free from pathogens. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of S. aureus in four basic meals hosted to hospitals in Menoufia government, Egypt including fried chicken, fried meat, grilled chicken, and grilled meat. The antimicrobial resistance of the recovered S. aureus isolates was screened. The public health significance of S. aureus was further discussed.  The obtained results revealed that 31 out of 120 samples (25.6%) were found to be contaminated with S. aureus. The highest prevalence of S. aureus was found in grilled chicken (36.7%), followed by fried chicken (26.7%), grilled meat (23.3%), and fried meat (16.7%). The mean values (CFU/g) of S. aureus counts in grilled chicken, fried chicken, grilled meat and fried meat were 1.59×104±0.26×104, 8.12×10± 2.04×103, 6.63×10± 1.51×103, and 2.97×10± 0.39×103 respectively. Most of the S. aureus isolates showed high resistance to Kanamycin (100%), Neomycin (93.5%), and Streptomycin (90.3%), respectively. The moderate resistance of S. aureus isolates was detected for erythromycin (58%), followed by gentamicin (32.3%), Oxacillin (19.4%), Enrofloxacin (6.5%), and Vancomycin (3.2%) respectively. Using polymerase chain reaction, the coding genes for the drug resistance against Methicillin, Vancomycin, Erythromycin, and Gentamicin were detected in several isolates. In conclusion, strict hygienic measure should be followed during preparation of the meals served at the hospitals to avoid their contamination with food poisoning organisms, particularly S. aureus.

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