Determination of antibiotic resistance pattern of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from the food samples by Multiplex PCR

Staphylococcus aureus is able to produce several enterotoxins which can cause poisoning symptoms with different intensities through eating of contaminated food. Due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, the number of antibiotics available for treating these infections is reduced daily. This study aimed to isolate Staphylococcus aureus and identification of methicillin-resistant gene in food samples using PCR technique. The study included 320 samples of different foods was conducted between July of 2015 and March of 2016. The samples were randomly collected from different parts of Mashhad, were sent to the laboratory and in accordance with standard instructions were examined for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus. The antibiotic sensitivity test was done by disk diffusion according to CLSI guidelines. PCR test was used to identify and confirm the isolated Staphylococcus aureus and Virulence genes and resistance. The result showed that 53 samples (16.6%) of the 320 samples were contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus. Antibiogram results showed that the most sensitivity and the most resistance to the antibiotic are for tobramycin antibiotics 100% tetracycline (15.09%) respectively. isolates 9 (16.98%) isolates of the 53 were resistant to methicillin in disk diffusion and 5 (9.5%) isolates had mecA resistance gene in PCR test. Due to high levels of Staphylococcus aureus food contamination the production and distribution of foods must be healthy controlled in order to prevent contamination and transmission of resistant strains of these microbes.