Staphylococcus aureus causes a foodborne intoxication due to the production of enterotoxins and shows antimicrobial resistance, as in the case of methicillin-resistant strains (MRSA). Herein, we analyzed 207 ready-to-eat foods collected in Algeria, reporting a S. aureus prevalence of 23.2% (48/207) and respective loads of coagulase positive staphylococci (CPS) ranging from 1.00 ± 0.5 to 5.11 ± 0.24 Log CFU/g. The 48 S. aureus isolates were widely characterized by staphylococcal enterotoxin gene (SEg)-typing and 16S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer region (ISR)-PCR, as well as by detecting tst and mecA genes, genetic determinants of toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 and methicillin resistance, respectively. We found that the S. aureus isolates belonged to seven different SEg-types harboring the following combinations of genes: (1) selW, selX; (2) egc (seG, seI, seM, seN, seO), selW, selX; (3) seA, seH, seK, seQ, selW, selX; (4) seB, selW, selX; (5) seD, selJ, seR, selW, selX; (6) seH, selW, selX, selY; and (7) seA, egc, selW, selX, while among these, 2.1% and 4.2% were tst- and mecA- (staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec-type IV) positive, respectively. Selected strains belonging to the 12 detected ISR-types were resistant towards antimicrobials including benzylpenicillin, ofloxacin, erythromycin, lincomycin, tetracyclin, kanamycin, oxacillin, and cefoxitin; 8.3% (1/12) were confirmed as MRSA and 16.7% (2/12) were multidrug resistant. The present study shows the heterogeneity of the S. aureus population in Algerian ready-to-eat foods as for their toxigenic potential and antimicrobial resistance, shedding the light on the quality and safety related to the consume of ready-to-eat foods in Algeria.
Keywords: 16S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer region PCR (ISR-PCR); Staphylococcus aureus; antibiotic resistance; enterotoxin gene cluster (egc); methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA); ready-to-eat foods; staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec); staphylococcal enterotoxin; staphylococcal food poisoning; toxic shock syndrome toxin-1.