Vol. 7, Issue 4 (2018)

Author(s):
Dr. G Suganya, Dr. K Porteen, Dr. Sonuwara Begum and Dr. A Jagadeesh Babu

Abstract:
Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen often carried asymptomatically in hu­mans. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains have acquired a gene that makes them re­sistant to all beta-lactam antibiotics. The study was carried out to find out the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in pet dogs as well as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains. A total of 155 nasal swab samples were collected from pet dogs attending Madras Veterinary teaching hospital, Chennai. The samples were processed by standard conventional procedures for isolation of the organism and molecular characterization of the isolates was done by using thermonuclease nuc gene for Staphylococcus aureus and mec A gene was used for methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus. Out of 155 canine nasal swab samples screened 93(60.0%) showed colonies characteristic of staphylococcus species on Baird parker agar plates. Molecular characterization of these isolates by thermonuclease nuc gene showed that 88 (94.62%) isolates were PCR positive for Staphylococcus aureus and about 86 (92.47%) of the isolates were positive for mec A gene. The prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA highlights the possibility of zoonotic transmission to humans who are in contact with pet dogs.