2021/05/30 by Nanga, Yessé Zinzendorf, Cablan, Mian Asher, Kouadio, Yao +2
paper · doi:10.26167/bmvh-0739
Staphylococcus aureus, in particular its enterotoxigenic strain, is a well-known pathogen that causes food poisoning. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of S. aureus, according to methicillin resistance and enterotoxin profile. S. aureus strains were isolated from different foods. Suspected S. aureus colonies were used to detect both methicillin resistance and enterotoxin genes by multiplex PCR. Out of a total of 325 colonies analyzed, 92 were shown to be Staphylococcus aureus strains representing a prevalence of 28.3 %. Among these strains, 66 (72.8 %) predominantly expressed at least one toxin gene. Hence mecA gene was identified in 21 strains (31.3%) while seA gene was found in 59.6% of isolated strains among which 25.3 % presented association with other enterotoxin genes notably seB, seC, seD and SeE. seB, seC and seD genes that were less dominant and detected respectively at 25.4%, 10.4% and 13.4 %. The results showed a high prevalence of S. aureus and a significant presence of enterotoxigenic strains in food in Abidjan where dairy products were the most contaminated. Moreover, the prevalence of methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains was high and therefore requires an improvement of the food hygienic conditions in order to reduce the risk of MRSA dissemination. Furthermore, a rational use of antibiotics in the environments related to food resources is recommended. Key words: food, Staphylococcus aureus, enterotoxins, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.