Abstract:

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in poultry meats (32 chickens, 9 turkeys, 9 quails) sold in Isparta and Antalya provinces, and to determine the presence of enterotoxin genes as well as antibiotic resistance profiles and resistance genes. Baird Parker agar medium was used to isolate presumptive S. aureus from poultry meats. The species-level identification of isolates was done by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primer pair specific to the thermostable nuclease gene (nuc) in S. aureus. As a result of the PCR analysis, amplicons of 458 bp specific to the nuc gene were obtained in 16 of 130 presumptive S. aureus isolates. The frequency of S. aureus in poultry meat samples was found to be 20% (10/50). Coagulase test showed that all the S. aureus isolates were coagulase positive. Disk diffusion test showed that all of the isolates (100 %) were susceptible to chloramphenicol and teicoplanin and resistant to penicillin G. It was determined that 81.25 % (13/16) of the isolates were methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The most common antibiotic resistance gene in S. aureus strains was found to be blaZ (62.5 %, 10/16) as a result of PCR. The presence of sea, seb, sec, sed and see genes was not detected in any of the S. aureus strains.

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