The Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and Its Enterotoxin Genes in Raw Milk and Dairy Products of Isfahan Province
نویسندگان
1 Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinaty Medicine, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran.
2 Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinaty Medicine, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran
3 Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinaty Medicine, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran
doi
10.22038/jnfh.2024.76601.1487چکیده
Staphylococcus aureus is a primary causative agent of severe hospital-acquired infections, and its significant role in foodborne illness outbreaks has recently come to light. This study aimed to quantitatively assess the incidence and distribution of Staphylococcus aureus and the prevalence of enterotoxin-encoding genes among resistant isolates recovered from raw milk and dairy products. A total of 485 samples of raw milk and traditional dairy products (produced from cow's milk) were collected from Isfahan Province. The presence of Staphylococcus aureus was confirmed through microbial culturing techniques. The prevalence rates of Staphylococcus aureus in milk and dairy products were 17.20% and 20.42%, respectively, with cow's milk (25%) and cheese (44.44%) exhibiting the highest contamination rates. Among the Staphylococcus aureus strains, the most frequently detected enterotoxins were SEA (44.68%) and SEB (36.17%). The findings of this study underscore the role of milk and dairy products in transmitting highly pathogenic and resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus to humans.
