One-year prevalence of antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus recovered from raw meat

Trop Biomed. 2017 Jun 1;34(2):396-404.

Abstract

Food with animal origins and especially meat may play an important role in transmission of methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus to humans. The present investigation was carried out to determine the prevalence of MRSA in various types of Iranian meat samples as well as study their antimicrobial resistance properties. Nine-hundred raw meat samples were collected during various months of the year. Samples were cultured and those that were MRSA-positive were subjected to the disk diffusion method to study the antibiotic resistance pattern. One-hundred and sixty out of 900 raw meat samples (17.7%) were positive for MRSA. Raw sheep meat samples had the highest (24.0%), while raw camel meat samples had the lowest (10%) prevalence of MRSA. Samples which were collected in June, July, August, September and June months had the highest prevalence of MRSA. Bacterial strains were also resistant to ampicillin (100%), penicillin G (100%), gatifloxacin (96.8%), ceftriaxone (80%) and oxacillin (76.2%) antibiotics. We found that only one isolate was resistant to all tested antimicrobial agents. Contaminated meat samples are potential risk factor for transmission of MRSA. Thoughtful antibiotics prescription, control the hygienic quality of meat inspections and increase the hygienic status of butchers and slaughterhouses can decrease the prevalence of MRSA in meat.