Prevalence of Multidrug-resistant Enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus in Pagrus and Saurus Fish Intended for Human Consumption

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is considered the most important cause of food borne intoxication, which occurs due to ingesting of food contaminated with enterotoxin of S. aureus. In this study, S. aureus from saurus, and pagrus fish species were isolated, then identified by morphological and biochemical examination. S. aureus coagulase, and D-Nase +ve were detected in 16 from 25 (64%), and 17 from 25(68%) of the examined samples of saurus, and pagrus, respectively. Total S. aureus counts were 5.14±0.06 in saurus, and 5.02±0.03 log 10 cfu/g in pagrus fish, respectively. Detection and typing of enterotoxin by Reverse Passive Latex Agglutination technique "RPLA" revealed the detection of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) SEA, SEC, and SED at 18%, 6%, 0% in saurus and 5%, 0%, and 11%, at pagrus, respectively. S. aureus was tested for antimicrobial susceptibility. The recovered S. aureus coagulase, and D-Nase +ve in the current study showed resistance to kanamycin, clindamycin, nalidixic acid, and sulphamethoxazole at 100%, 87.9%, 84.8%, and 81.8%, respectively. The isolates showed sensitivity to amikacin, imipenem, meropenem, oxacillin at 90.9%, 87.9%, 84.8%, and 81.8% respectively. It could be concluded that multidrug resistant enterotoxigenic strains of S. aureus could be isolated from saurus and pagrus spp. Therefore, it is highly recommended to adopt strict hygienic measures and efficient cooking during before consumption of such fish species.