Prevalence of Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Some Processed Chicken Meat Products

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is one of the most continuously studied foodborne bacteria due to its high pathogenicity, heat-stable enterotoxins production, and its continuous development of multiple antibiotic resistance. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate prevalence, antibiogram, mecA andenterotoxins (SEs) genes of the multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in some processed chicken meat products. A total of 150 random samples, fifty samples each from chicken luncheon, burger, and sausage were collected from some supermarkets in Benha city, Qalubiya governorate, Egypt. The obtained results revealed that among all the examined samples, sausage recorded the highest contamination level with Staphylococcus species (36%) and S. aureus (16.0%) with mean counts of 2.1x103 and 6.7x102 CFU/g respectively followed by luncheon and burger samples. The antimicrobial susceptibility test of 17 S. aureus isolates against different antibiotics clearly indicated high susceptibility toLevofloxacin (88.2 %), Ciprofloxacin(82.4%), Gentamicin (70.6%) andNorfloxacin (52.9 %). While, high resistance was observed against Cefotaxime (41.2%) followed byAmpicillin (29.4%), Amoxicillin (29.4%) andOxacillin (23.5%). Moreover, the staphylococcal enterotoxin-A and mecAgenes in the examined S. aureus isolates were detected by molecular investigation and appeared as positive bands on 102bp and 310bp, respectively. Conclusively, the presence of enterotoxigenic MRSAstrains, especially among processed meat products alarms the necessity of strict application of proper hygienic measurements and good manufacturing practices (GMPs) during preparation, handling, and storage of foods.