Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus among food handlers: An ongoing challenge in public health.

Food Control ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 108362
Author(s):  
Daniela Bencardino ◽  
Giulia Amagliani ◽  
Giorgio Brandi
Author(s):  
Sabina Šegalo ◽  
Daniel Maestro ◽  
Zarema Obradović ◽  
Anes Jogunčić

Introduction: The nasals and hand carriage of Staphylococcus aureus in food handlers (FHs) represent a significant source of Staphylococcal food contamination and food poisoning. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a microorganism’s ability to resist the action of one or more antimicrobial agents. S. aureus has demonstrated the ability to rapidly respond to each new antimicrobial with the development of a resistance mechanism. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of nasal carriage rate and AMR pattern of isolated strains S. aureus among FHs in Canton Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Methods: The retrospective study included laboratory results of 11.139 tested subjects between January 2014 and December 2018. The study was conducted in the laboratory of the Institute of Public Health of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. Samples of nasal swabs were collected from FHs, employees in companies located in Canton Sarajevo, during sanitary surveillance prescribed by applicable legal standards. S. aureus isolates were identified according to conventional microbiological methods and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by the agar disk diffusion method according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing; 2013 standard. Results: Among the 11.138 subjects, 792 (7.1%) were carriers of S. aureus. Isolated strains were tested on eight different antibiotics, and the resistance to penicillin, ampicillin, and amoxicillin was 788 (99.5%), 776 (97.9%), and 752 (94.9%), retrospectively. In total, 86.36% of isolated strains were multidrug-resistant. Conclusions: The low percentage of S. aureus carriers indicates that preventive measures of carrier control are being actively implemented within the legally prescribed measures. The emergence of numerous isolated strains with multidrug-resistance characteristics is a significant public health problem and consequently limits the range of antibiotics available for therapeutic purposes. The results of this research indicate that AMR has increased in Sarajevo Canton and it is following the trend of global growth.


Chicken meat are being widely consumed as they contain high protein and a healthier unsaturated fat type. Chicken burger represent a consumer palatable chicken product. Both chicken and its products are liable to different types of contamination during their preparation and processing. Contamination by S. aureus and its enterotoxins poses a major public health hazard to chicken meat consumes. During this study 100 different samples of chicken fillet, deboned thigh, wing, mechanically deboned meat (MDM) and chicken burger (20 each) was collected from market and investigated for their S. aureus count and ability of the isolated strains to produce enterotoxins using conventional plating and isolation technique as well as using SET-RPLA toxin detection kit. Results revealed that mean values of S. aureus count in all samples exceeded the permissible limits and hence being unacceptable. MDM isolated exhibited staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) production of three different types SEA, SEC and SED. Meanwhile chicken burger S. aureus isolates produced only SEA and SEC enterotoxins. While isolated S. aureus from chicken fillet and deboned thigh didn’t exhibit any enterotoxin production activity. It’s recommended to follow the hygienic practices during different processing stages to avoid the risk of S. aureus and its enterotoxins.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asmita Shrestha ◽  
Rebanta Kumar Bhattarai ◽  
Himal Luitel ◽  
Surendra Karki ◽  
Hom Bahadur Basnet

Abstract Background The threat of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) exists globally and has been listed as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organization. One of the sources of MRSA emergence is livestock and its products, often raised in poor husbandry conditions. There are limited studies in Nepal to understand the prevalence of MRSA in dairy animals and its antimicrobial resistance (AMR) profile. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Chitwan, one of the major milk-producing districts of Nepal, from February 2018 to September 2019 to estimate the prevalence of MRSA in milk samples and its AMR profile. The collected milk samples (n = 460) were screened using the California Mastitis Test (CMT) and positive samples were subjected to microbiological analysis to isolate and identify S. aureus. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used to identify the presence of the mecA gene and screen for MRSA. Results In total, 41.5% (191/460) of milk samples were positive in the CMT test. Out of 191 CMT positive milk samples, the biochemical tests showed that the prevalence of S. aureus was 15.2% (29/191). Among the 29 S. aureus isolates, 6.9% (2/29) were identified as MRSA based on the detection of a mecA gene. This indicates that that 1.05% (2/191) of mastitis milk samples had MRSA. The antibiotic sensitivity test showed that 75.9% (22/29) and 48.3% (14/29) S. aureus isolates were found to be sensitive to Cefazolin and Tetracycline respectively (48.3%), whereas 100% of the isolates were resistant to Ampicillin. In total 96.6% (28/29) of S. aureus isolates were multidrug-resistant (MDR). Conclusions This study revealed a high prevalence of S. aureus-mediated subclinical mastitis in dairy herds in Chitwan, Nepal, with a small proportion of it being MRSA carrying a mecA gene. This S. aureus, CoNS, and MRSA contaminated milk poses a public health risk due to the presence of a phenotype that is resistant to very commonly used antibiotics. It is suggested that dairy herds be screened for subclinical mastitis and treatments for the animals be based on antibiotic susceptibility tests to reduce the prevalence of AMR. Furthermore, future studies should focus on the Staphylococcus spp. to explore the antibiotic resistance genes in addition to the mecA gene to ensure public health.


2013 ◽  
Vol 76 (9) ◽  
pp. 1582-1589 ◽  
Author(s):  
COLETTE GAULIN ◽  
SOULYVANE NGUON ◽  
MARIE-ANDREE LEBLANC ◽  
DANIELLE RAMSAY ◽  
SOPHIE ROY

In January 2011, multiple acute gastroenteritis outbreaks that spanned many days and were related to attendance at funerals were reported to public health units in Quebec. An epidemiological investigation was initiated to identify the source of the contamination and to explain the extent of the contamination over time. Thirty-one cohorts of individuals attended different funerals held between 14 and 19 January. All attendees were served a cold buffet made by the same caterer. Of these 31 cohorts, 16 (with a total of about 800 people) contained individuals who reported being ill after the funeral. Symptoms were mainly diarrhea (89 to 94% of individuals), vomiting (63 to 90%,) and fever (26 to 39%), with a median incubation period of 29 to 33 h and a median duration of symptoms of 24 to 33 h, suggesting norovirus-like infection. Among the 16 cohorts, 3 were selected for cohort studies. Among those three cohorts, the mean illness rate was 68%. Associations were found between those who fell ill and those who had consumed pasta salad (relative risk [RR] = 2.4; P = 0.0022) and ham sandwiches (RR = 1.8; P = 0.0096). No food handlers reported being sick. No stool samples were provided by individuals who became ill. Environmental and food samples were all negative for causative agents. Although the causative agent was not clearly identified, this investigation raised many concerns about the importance of preventing foodborne transmission of viral gastroenteritis and generated some recommendations for management of similar outbreaks.


2017 ◽  

[Introduction]. Food-borne diseases (FBDs) are one of the most frequent public health problems in daily life. The hazards that cause FBD may occur in the different stages of the food chain (from primary production to the table). Independently from its origin, once the food reaches the consumer it may have an impact on public health and cause severe economic damage to the establishments devoted to its preparation and sale. These two events may cause loss of confidence and the closing down of a business. Fortunately, the measures for preventing food contamination are very simple and may be applied by anyone who handles food, by following easy rules for hygienic food handling. This Manual’s purpose is to provide to people who handle food, and particularly to food-handlers’ instructors, the information they need to facilitate the teaching of proper procedures to food workers. In addition, it seeks to provide basic information about food safety that Latin American and Caribbean countries may adapt to their own needs. The Manual is organized into three Modules and Appendixes focusing on the following topics: (1) food hazards; (2) FBDs; and (3) hygienic measures to prevent food contamination. The evaluation at the end, forms part of the Manual. Its purpose is to assess the knowledge learned during the course regarding the importance of hygienic food handling for public health.


2016 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 682-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
LÍVIA G. BAPTISTÃO ◽  
NATHALIA C. C. SILVA ◽  
ERIKA C. R. BONSAGLIA ◽  
BRUNA F. ROSSI ◽  
IVANA G. CASTILHO ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The hands and noses of food handlers colonized by Staphylococcus aureus are an important source of food contamination in restaurants and food processing. Several virulence factors can be carried by mobile elements in strains of S. aureus, including the immune evasion cluster (IEC). This gene cluster improves the capacity of S. aureus to evade the human immune response. Many studies have reported the transmission of strains between animals and humans, such as farm workers that have close contact with livestock. However, there are few studies on the transmission between food and food handlers. The aim of this study was to detect the IEC and the mecA gene in strains isolated from food handlers and to type these strains using the spa typing method. Thirty-five strains of S. aureus isolated from the noses and hands of food handlers in three different kitchens were analyzed for the presence of the mecA gene and IEC and by spa typing. All strains were negative for the mecA gene, and the presence of IEC was observed in 10 (28.6%) strains. Fifteen different spa types were observed, with the most frequent being t127 (42.85%) and t002 (11.42%). Strains from the two most prevalent spa types and a novel spa type were typed by multilocus sequence typing. spa types t127, t002, and t13335 were determined to be multilocus sequence types (ST) ST-30, ST-5, and ST-45, respectively. The food handlers may have been contaminated by these strains of S. aureus through food, which is suggested by the low frequency of IEC and by ST that are observed more commonly in animals.


2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Setiawan

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most complicated problems in infection control and disease prevention. Imported strains or group of similar strains called clones were introduced from other states within Australia and also from other countries. Western Australia (WA) MRSA clones known to be the most predominant clones circulating in Western Australia (WA). However, MRSA strains originally from other states and countries outside Australia (imported) have increased in number in the last decades. The aim of this study was to examine the epidemiology of CA MRSA clones in Western Australia for the past 11 year’s period (2003-2013). There were 10 predominant clones of CA-MRSA circulating in WA with WA MRSA-1 (32,82%), Queensland (22,67 %) and WA MRSA-2 (22,67 %) clones as the top three predominant clones. The percentage of PVL positive CA-MRSA clones such as Queensland (Qld) clone has been increasing significantly (R2=0,67) from 2,38 % in 2002 to 25,69% in 2013. In contrast, the percentages of two major PVL negative clones, WA MRSA-1 and WA MRSA 2, have been decreasing nearly by half from 52,38 % to 27,71 % and 30,95 % to 16,59 % respectively in the last 11 years. PVL positive clones have been introduced in WA from other states and overseas in the last eleven years. Due to the virulence factor of PVL toxin, the emergence of PVL positive CA-MRSA should be considered as public health concerns.


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