Investigation of the gene carriage rates for Staphylococcus aureus, mecA, vanA and nuc genes in the nasal and milk specimens from the sheep caretakers with sheep

OMER AKGUL; GULHAN BORA; HUSEYIN GUDUCUOĞLU

OMER AKGUL Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, VAN, Turkey
GULHAN BORA Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, VAN, Turkey
HUSEYIN GUDUCUOĞLU Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, VAN, Turkey

Keywords: mecA, vanA, nuc, human, sheep

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is an important pathogen that may cause serious infections in the humans and animals. The pathogenity of Staphylococcus aureus emerges associated with the factors such as antibiotic resistance, immune evasion, invasion capability and virulence. By the impairment of the immune system, S. aureus-borne skin and soft tissue infections as well as serious infections such as pneumonia, septicemia and osteomyelitis may develop in the human bodies. S. aureus is one of the most common causes of the intramammary infections (IMI) in the dairy ruminants. The present study aimed to identify the presence of S. aureus, mecA and vanA genes in humans and animals (sheep) in the rural corporations on commercial sheep breeding in Van and its region. It was also targeted to evaluate nuc gene positivity of Stapyhylococcus aureus strains isolated from humans and animals. Totally 78 (12.7%) S.aureus strains were isolated and identified from 612 materials taken from the sheep caretakers (nasal swab:204) and the sheep (204 specimens for nasal swab and milk each). S. aureus was distributed in 27 (13.2%; 204), 16 (7.8%; 204) and 35 (17.2%; 204) of the nasal swab specimens taken from the sheep caretakers, the sheep and sheep’s milk specimens, respectively. Antibiotic susceptibility testing of 78 S. aureus isolates performed by Vitek2 device revealed that the highest antibiotic resistance was against benzylpenicillin. Gene analysis for 12 MRSA strains isolated in the specimens of the sheep caretakers and sheep was performed by single-Polymerase Chain Reactions (sPCR) for detection of mecA and vanA genes. Twelve MRSA isolates were found positive for mecA gene carriage. On the other hand, 78 S. aureus isolates were not found to carry vanA gene. All of the 12 MRSA and 66 Methicilline-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) isolates were found positive for nuc gene carriage. It was concluded that MRSA strains isolated from the sheep caretakers and sheep had impact on the public health and created at risk for food chain.