Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control (Sep 2017)

Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in retail food in Singapore

  • Kyaw Thu Aung,
  • Li Yang Hsu,
  • Tse Hsien Koh,
  • Hapuarachchige Chanditha Hapuarachchi,
  • Man Ling Chau,
  • Ramona Alikiiteaga Gutiérrez,
  • Lee Ching Ng

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-017-0255-3
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 1
pp. 1 – 4

Abstract

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Abstract We characterised 227 Staphylococcus aureus isolates from retail food and food handlers’ gloves samples obtained through food surveillance and risk assessment studies between 2011 and 2014. Of 227 isolates, five (2.2%) were methicillin-resistant and belonged to sequence types ST80 (n = 3) and ST6 (n = 2). All five isolates belonged to SCCmec type IV, were Panton-Valentine leukocidin (pvl)-negative and staphylococcal enterotoxin genes-positive. Resistance to azithromycin was found in ST80 isolates, in addition to resistance to beta-lactams. Our finding of two clinically relevant methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains (ST80 and ST6) in ready-to-eat food and food contact surfaces at retail in Singapore suggests food and food contact surfaces as potential environmental sources of MRSA in the community.

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