title: Prevalence of enterotoxin-encoding genes and antimicrobial resistance in coagulase-negative and coagulase-positive Staphylococcus isolates from black pudding.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Staphylococcal species are pathogens that are responsible for outbreaks of foodborne diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of enterotoxin-genes and the antimicrobial resistance profile in staphylococcus coagulase-negative (CoNS) and coagulasepositive (CoPS) isolates from black pudding in southern Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred typical and atypical colonies from Baird-Parker agar were inoculated on mannitol salt agar. Eighty-two mannitol-positive staphylococci were submitted to conventional biochemical tests and antimicrobial susceptibility profiling. The presence of coagulase (coa) and enterotoxin (se) genes was investigated by polymerase chain reaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The isolates were divided into 2 groups: 75.6% (62/82) were CoNS and 24.4% (20/82) were CoPS. The biochemical tests identified 9 species, of which Staphylococcus saprophyticus (37.8%) and Staphylococcus carnosus (15.9%) were the most prevalent. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests showed resistance phenotypes to antibiotics widely administered in humans, such as gentamicin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, and erythromycin. The coa gene was detected in 19.5% (16/82) of the strains and 4 polymorphic DNA fragments were observed. Five CoNS isolates carrying the coa gene were submitted for 16S rRNA sequencing and 3 showed similarity with CoNS. Forty strains were positive for at least 1 enterotoxin-encoding gene, the genes most frequently detected were sea (28.6%) and seb (27.5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The presence of antimicrobial resistant and enterotoxin-encoding genes in staphylococci isolates from black pudding indicated that this fermented food may represent a potential health risk, since staphylococci present in food could cause foodborne diseases or be a possible route for the transfer of antimicrobial resistance to humans.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Microbiologia Agrícola e do Ambiente, Departamento de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. tianedemoura@gmail.com
authors.forename: Tiane Martin de
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Moura
authors.forename: Fabrício Souza
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Pedro Alves
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: d'Azevedo
authors.forename: Sueli Teresinha
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Van Der Sand
authors.forename: Ana Cláudia
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.forename: Jeverson
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Frazzon
authors.forename: Ana Paula Guedes
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Frazzon
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001938:Brazil; D003030:Coagulase / Q000235:genetics*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013202:Staphylococcal Food Poisoning / Q000382:microbiology; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D003030:Coagulase; D004768:Enterotoxins; C026066:enterotoxin A, Staphylococcal; C031818:enterotoxin B, staphylococcal