Antibiotic resistance pattern and spa types of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from food business and hospital kitchen employees in Çanakkale, Turkey

BACKGROUND/AIM: The aim of this study was to determine antibiotic resistance profiles and spa types of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from food business employees in Çanakkale, Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: S. aureus isolates were collected from hand and nasal swabs of 300 individuals working in 17 food businesses and 9 hospital kitchens. All S. aureus isolates obtained from each carrier were typed by staphylococcal protein A (spa) typing method.Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of MRSA were performed by sequencing method. RESULTS: Of the 300 individuals, 125 (41.6%) were found to be carriers of S. aureus, 215 isolates of which were obtained in total. Three (1.4%) of 215 isolates were identified as MRSA. Sixty spa types were identified among the 121 MSSA isolates, the most common being t084 (9%). A novel spa type was discerned and added to the Ridom SpaServer database as t14963. The MLST type of the MRSA strains identified as spa type t786 was ST88 and as spa type t223 was ST22. All MRSA were determined to be SCCmec type IVa. CONCLUSION: spa typing can be performed to screen for transmission of S. aureus. t786, ST88, and SCCmec IVa MRSA strains were identified for the first time in Turkey.