Identification of nuc nuclease and sea enterotoxin genes in Staphylococcus aureus isolates from nasal mucosa of burn hospital staff: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the main causes of nosocomial infections. The hospital staff as carriers of Staphylococcus aureus have an important role in spreading it among patients. This study aimed to isolate and identify the sea and nuc genes that encode enterotoxin in Staphylococcus aureus isolates, isolated from the Nasal mucosa of staff in Sari Burn hospital by PCR method. Methods: A gene nasal mucosa of Sari Burn hospital staff. In this cross-sectional study, a nasal swab of 40 staff of Burn hospital of Sari was collected and isolated. The S. aureus was detected by biochemical tests such as Gram stain, catalase, and coagulase. Then nuc and sea genes were identified after the extraction of DNA, by PCR technique and gel electrophoresis with a specific primer. Results: From the 40 strains obtained from nasal carriers, 20 S. aureus strains were isolated, and all of them included the nuc gene, while 6 samples included the sea gene. Given that every 20 samples had the nuc gene, therefore this gene is a strong marker for S. aureus. Also, the presence of sea genes in some samples suggested the presence of enterotoxin A in hospital staff as a healthy carrier. Conclusions: PCR techniques can be used to detect the genes encoding enterotoxins in S. aureus. Given that hospital staff can be carriers of Staphylococcus aureus and spread nosocomial infections, therefore identification of the carriers to prevent the spread of infection is essential.

Keywords

• Hospital staff
• Nuc nuclease gene
• PCR
• Sea enterotoxin
• Staphylococcus aureus