Carriage rate and methicillin resistance of Staphylococcus aureus in food handlers in Kars City, Turkey

The aim of this study was determine carriage rate and methicillin resistance of Staphylococcus aureus among food handlers. Samples were collected by swabbing the mouth, nasal cavity and hands of food workers. The isolation of S. aureus was performed using a culture method and verified by using a genetic method (PCR). The presence of mecA gene was analysed by PCR. The fourteen antimicrobial disks were also used to determine antimicrobial susceptibility of S. aureus. The 56 out of 282 isolates were identified as S. aureus. It is found that 10 workers out of 28 carried S. aureus in their nasal cavity while 4 and 3 workers out of 21 carriered S. aureus in mouth and hands respectively. None of the isolates carried mecA genes and also their antibacterial susceptibility test for methicillin resistance, using cefoxitin (30 µg), shown that all the isolates was susceptible to methicillin. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicated that the prevalence of antibiotic resistance of S. aureus strains isolated from food handlers was low. However carriage rate of S. aureus among food handlers was quite high.