OCCURRENCE, ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITYAND PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATION OF MRSA IN READY TO EAT DAIRY FOODS IN HARAR TOWN AND ITS SURROUNDING AREAS
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Date
2017-06
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Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen that recently becomes an emerging zoonotic pathogen that adds another facet to the already existed multi-dimensional challenge of ensuring food safety in developing country. It is highly implicated on its Methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strain and Staphylococcal food poisoning. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2016 to May 2017 in Harar town and its surrounding areas with the objectives to assess the occurrence of MRSA and their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles in ready to eat dairy foods. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed and administered to dairy farm owners and dairy food consumers to assess their consumption behavior and antibiotics usage. Standard bacteriological examination for Staphylococcal isolation and identification, in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility tests by using disc diffusion method were conducted by following the different standards that were employed and verified in previous studies. A total of 318 ready to eat dairy food products that were obtained from dairy farms, open markets, supermarkets, pastry and cafeteria were analyzed. It was found that 50.3 of the dairy foods were contaminated by Staphylococci species. Among the ready to eat dairy foods: cakes, cream cakes, raw milk and retailed milks were frequently contaminated by S.aureus as 23.1%, 29.2%, 25% and 27.5% respectively. Among 47 out of 58 isolates of S. aureus tested for susceptibility, 76.6 % of the isolates were found to be Methicillin resistant. Moreover, 34.0% of S. aureus isolates were resistant to two or more drugs and 10 (21.3%) were multi-drug resistant. The dairy food consumers interviewed in this study indicated that 51.2% of them consume raw/undercooked milk and milk products in different forms such as cheese, yoghurt, raw milk, boiled milk in cafeteria. Moreover, this survey documented different predisposing factors that can significantly contribute for further spread of multi drug resistance S.aureus in the study area. Some of these factors include; antibiotics usage without prescription; self-administration of drugs without proper clinical examination or medical consultation; cessation of drug usage before complete dose and common use of antibiotics for minor and unidentified cases such as coughing, nasal discharge, diarrhea, pneumonia and so on. Considering the consumption habit of consumers in the area and the irrational drug usage, the study clearly demonstrated that ready to eat dairy foods can be considered as an important vehicles for the transmission of antibiotic resistant Staphylococci particularly S.aureus to the consumers which weigh the public health significance of MRSA. The finding from this study warrants further investigation on the sources of contamination in the ready to eat dairy foods and to elucidate the public health importance of S.aureus and MRSA.
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MSc Thesis
Keywords
Ready to eat dairy foods, S. aureus, Multi drug resistance