Virulence and resistance profile of staphylococcus aureus isolated from food

Staphylococcus aureus is considered a global community and health care pathogen responsible for staphylococcal food poisoning. The aim of this study was to characterize several isolates of S. aureus recovered from different food products concerning enterotoxin genes and other virulence factors including antimicrobial resistance. In 2009, a total of 78 coagulase-positive staphylococci from 1454 food samples were identified to species level; 73 were confirmed as S. aureus. Of the S. aureus isolates 5.5% were resistant to oxacillin, 52.0% showed resistance to erythromycin, and 45.2% to tetracycline. Multidrug resistance was observed in 33.3% of the isolates (resistance to three or more antibiotics of different classes). SCCmec types IV and V were detected among methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). One MRSA isolate was pvl positive. The 52.0% of food isolates were shown to be enterotoxigenic; egc (63.0%), secbov (44.7%) were the main detected SEs. tst gene was also detected in food isolates. The present work demonstrates the presence of virulent S. aureus collected in 2009 in foods.