title: Virulence Factors and Antibiotic Susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates in Ready-to-Eat Foods: Detection of S. aureus Contamination and a High Prevalence of Virulence Genes.
abstract: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the leading causes of food poisoning. Its pathogenicity results from the possession of virulence genes that produce different toxins which result in self-limiting to severe illness often requiring hospitalization. In this study of 200 sushi and sashimi samples, S. aureus contamination was confirmed in 26% of the food samples. The S. aureus isolates were further characterized for virulence genes and antibiotic susceptibility. A high incidence of virulence genes was identified in 96.2% of the isolates and 20 different virulence gene profiles were confirmed. DNA amplification showed that 30.8% (16/52) of the S. aureus carried at least one SE gene which causes staphylococcal food poisoning. The most common enterotoxin gene was seg (11.5%) and the egc cluster was detected in 5.8% of the isolates. A combination of hla and hld was the most prevalent coexistence virulence genes and accounted for 59.6% of all isolates. Antibiotic resistance studies showed tetracycline resistance to be the most common at 28.8% while multi-drug resistance was found to be low at 3.8%. In conclusion, the high rate of S. aureus in the sampled sushi and sashimi indicates the need for food safety guidelines.
authors: Department of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. suatmoi@um.edu.my.
authors: Suat Moi
authors: SM
authors: Puah
authors: Department of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. khchua@um.edu.my.
authors: Kek Heng
authors: KH
authors: Chua
authors: Department of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. maryanne@um.edu.my.
authors: Jin Ai Mary Anne
authors: JA
authors: Tan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects; D004768:Enterotoxins; D005399:Fishes / Q000382:microbiology*; D005523:Food Supply; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics*; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004768:Enterotoxins; D037521:Virulence Factors
keywords: Staphylococcus aureus; antibiotic resistance; sashimi; sushi; virulence genes