AUTHOR=Islam Mohammad Aminul , Parveen Sahana , Rahman Mahdia , Huq Mohsina , Nabi Ashikun , Khan Zahed Uddin Mahmood , Ahmed Niyaz , Wagenaar Jaap A. 

TITLE=Occurrence and Characterization of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Processed Raw Foods and Ready-to-Eat Foods in an Urban Setting of a Developing Country

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00503

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.00503

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Infections by methicillin-resistant <italic>Staphylococcus aureus</italic> (MRSA) are gradually increasing in the community. In this study, we investigated a total of 162 food samples including 112 ready-to-eat (RTE) foods and 40 processed raw meat and fish samples collected from retail vendors in Dhaka, Bangladesh and determined the occurrence of toxigenic <italic>S. aureus</italic> and MRSA. Around 22% of samples were positive for <italic>S. aureus</italic>, RTE foods being more positive (23%) than the processed raw meat/fish samples (18%). Among 35 <italic>S. aureus</italic> isolates, 74% were resistant to erythromycin, 49% to ciprofloxacin and around 30% to oxacillin and cefoxitin. Around 37% of isolates were resistant to ≥3 classes of antibiotics and 26% of isolates (<italic>n</italic> = 9) were identified as MRSA. Majority of the isolates were positive for enterotoxin genes (74%), followed by <italic>pvl</italic> gene (71%), toxic shock syndrome toxin (<italic>tsst</italic>) gene (17%) and exfoliative toxin genes (11%). Multi locus sequence typing (MLST) of 9 MRSA isolates identified four different types such as ST80 (<italic>n</italic> = 3), ST6 (<italic>n</italic> = 2), ST239 (<italic>n</italic> = 2) and ST361 (<italic>n</italic> = 2). <italic>spa</italic> typing of MRSA isolates revealed seven different types including t1198 (<italic>n</italic> = 2), t315 (<italic>n</italic> = 2), t037 (<italic>n</italic> = 1), t275 (<italic>n</italic> = 1), t304 (<italic>n</italic> = 1), t8731 (<italic>n</italic> = 1) and t10546 (<italic>n</italic> = 1). To our knowledge, this is the first report entailing baseline data on the occurrence of MRSA in RTE foods in Dhaka highlighting a potential public health risk to street food consumers.</p>