05. Screening of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus from dogs and cats in Hyderabad Pakistan
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Abstract
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a “superberg”, an important cause of human nosocomial and as a universal community-acquired infection cause resistant to β--lactam antibiotics. Till to date no detailed and authentic report on MRSA in nasal swabs of diseased dogs and cats reported. This study was planned to check the presence of MRSA in nasal swabs of dogs and cats. Total 100 samples were collected, and 37 samples were positive with S. aureus in both diseased dogs and cats which were confirmed by their colony characteristic, morphology, gram stain reaction and biochemical properties. These isolates were subjected to minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) through Micro broth dilution method by using methicillin in 96 well plates. Among them, 8/37 (21.62%) were found methicillin resistant. In diseased dog, 5/21 (23.80%) and cat 3/16 (18.75%) isolated were found moderately resistant to methicillin as they grew at 32μg/μl concentration of methicillin. mec-A gene in methicillin resistant samples were detected through polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This resistance was due to phenotypically and moderate level of the resistance against methicillin with absence of mec-A gene shows that the examined pets were not the reservoir of mec-A gene. However, more studies are recommended to further confirm that, pets are reservoir of mec-A gene or not or this may be due to involvement of sharing mechanism of resistance to penicillin group. So far, this is first study on MRSA in diseased dog and cats, which revealed that, there is no MRSA in this area of Pakistan.
Keywords: Cat; Dog; Methicillin resistant; Screening; Staphylococcus aureus